.  )5  .  /S 


Srom  f^e  &i6rari?  of 
(ptofmox  Wiffidm  (Btiffer  (|)a;irton,  ©.©.,  fefe.®. 

to  f 3e  fetfirart  of 
(Princeton  C^eofo^icaf  ^eminarg 


jToTSiS 


FEB  13  1912 


^^(?IGAL  Vi^ 


^ 


SERMONS 


BY  THK  •/ 

REV.   THOMAS   HOUSE   TAYLOE,   D.D. 

FOR  MANY  TEARS  RECTOR  OF   GRACE   CHURCH,  NEW   YORK. 


WITH  A  PORTRAIT  FROM  A  PAINTING  BY  ELLIOTT. 


NEW  YORK  : 

G.  P.  PUTNAM  &  SON,  661  BROADWAY. 

1869. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

GEORGE  P.  PUTNAM  &  SON, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York 


The  New  York  Printing  Company, 

8i,  83,  and  85   Centre  St., 

New  York. 


CONTENTS. 


Consecration  op  Grace  Church,  New  York,  March 
7th,  1846 9 

The  Revelation  op  the  Scriptures 27 

The  Saving  Truth  op  our  Religion 36 

Christ  our  Refuge 50 

Justification  by  Faith 63 

The  Revealed  Requirements  op  the  Creator 74 

Importance  of  Religion  to  the  Young 86 

The  Sacrifice  of  all  Things  Hurtful  to  the  Soul  . .  101 

All  Our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing 109 

The  Christian  Armor 134 

The  Crucifixion 137 

The  Resurrection  op  Christ 150 

The  Trinity ,163 

The  Sin  unto  Death 173 

Christian  Principles— The  Ruling  Motives  op  our 
Lives 187 

Spring — An  Emblem  op  the  Resurrection 198 


viii  Contents. 

Charactek  and  Employment  of  the  Angels 200 

The  Intermediate  State 224 

Jacob  and  Esatj 239 

Repentance 255 

The  Prodigal  Son 209 

Selp-Denial 281 

Charity 295 

The  Close  op  the  Year 310 

The  Power  of  Christianity 323 

The  Atonement 337 

The  Duty  of  Observing  the  Sacraments 350 

The  Immortality  op  the  Soul 363 


SERMONS 

BY 

THOMAS  HOUSE   TxlYLOR,  D.D. 


^^ 


THE    CONSECRATION    OF    GRACE    CHURCH, 
NEW  YORK,   MARCH  7th,    1846. 

"  The  silver  is  mine  and  the  gold  is  mine^  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 
"  The  glory  of  this  latter  house  shall  he  greater  than  of  the  former^ 
saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts.'''' 

Haggai  id,  Sth  <&  9th.  v 

FIESE  words  were  spoken  by  the  Prophet 
to  tlie  enfeebled  people  of  Israel,  when, 
in  a  spirit-stirring  address,  he  sought  to 
ronse  them  from  the  criminal  lethargy 
in  which  they  slumbered,  in  regard  to  their  high 
duty  of  rebuilding  the  fallen  Temple  of  Grod.  The 
language  may  be  regarded  as  a  direct  assertion  on 
the  part  of  God,  that  the  boundless  treasures  of 
the  universe  belong  of  right  to  Him  who  created 
them :  and  it  conveys  the  cheering  assurance  to  His 
earthly  servants  that  the  means  shall  never  be  want- 
ing for  the  accomplishment  of  every  wise  and 
righteous  design,  for  the  advancement  of  His  glory. 

1* 


10  Consecration  of  Grace  Church. 

Although,  my  brethren,  it  may  be  safely  said 
that  outward  splendor  can  never  add  anything  to 
the  overpowering  majesty  of  God ;  and  that  the 
prayers  of  penitence  and  faith  will  rise  as  accept- 
ably from  the  rude  hut  of  the  savage  convert,  as 
from  the  most  gorgeous  exhibitions  of  architectural 
skill,  enriched  witli  earth's  accumulated  stores  of 
silver,  and  glittering  with  the  gold  and  gems  which 
the  far-reaching  arms  of  commerce  may  have  gath- 
ered from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe ;  yet,  may 
it  with  equal  truth  be  said,  that  we  can  never  stand 
acquitted  from  the  blighting  charge  of  selfish  and 
sordid  ingratitude,  if,  in  cold  calculation,  we  set 
apart  for  devotion  to  the  God  of  all  only  tliat  which 
is  coarse  and  mean ;  while,  as  faithless  stewards,  we 
continue  to  repose  amid  the  refinements  of  cultiva- 
ted taste,  or  to  riot  in  the  costliness  of  luxurious  liv^- 
ing.  In  every  age  of  the  world,  men,  either  in  obe- 
dience to  the  express  teaching  of  their  Maker,  or 
else  following  the  example  of  others  who  were  so 
taught,  have  erected  places  of  public  worship,  in 
admirable  adaptation  to  their  condition  of  advance- 
ment in  intelligence,  wealth,  and  power. 

So,  my  brethren,  ought  it  ever  to  be,  and  so  do 
we  trust  it  will  be,  in  this  wide  and  beautiful  coun- 
try of  our  love  !  While  we  were  yet  in  our  infancy 
— and  wherever  the  population  is  yet  scattered  and 
feeble,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  our  houses  of  prayer 
should  be  of  the  simplest  construction.  But  as  fast 
as  Christian  communities  gather  strength,  and  God 
blesses  them  with  prosperity,  and  extends  their  world- 


Conseoration  of  Grace  Church.  11 

ly  trusts,  then  must  the  unslumbering  sentinels  upon 
the  watchtowers  of  Faith  stir  up  the  hosts  of  the 
Lord  to  the  solemn  and  ennobling  duty  of  devoting 
the  best  of  everything  intrusted  to  them  by  the  Mas- 
ter of  all  to  that  Master's  use, — to  the  consecration 
of  sanctuaries  of  religion,  as  monuments  to  His  glory, 
of  the  most  imposing  and  enduring  magnificence  ! 
Yea,  there  must  be  nothing  kept  back  of  the  best 
which  can  be  given, — of  science,  of  learning,  of 
wealth,  and  of  labor, — toward  the  erection  of  houses 
sacred  to  God,  which,  in  their  vast  and  harmo- 
nious proportions,  shall  fill  the  mind  with  awe — in 
their  rich  and  chaste  decorations,  shall  soothe  us  with 
those  grateful  emotions  which  the  combination  of 
beauty  and  grace  so  naturally  awaken,  and  which 
shall  stand  through  many  generations  as  memorials 
of  our  national  piety  and  high  civilization ;  Yea, 
shall  stand,  amid  the  abodes  of  earthly  strife  and  pol- 
lution, as  stainless  asylums,  for  the  worn  and  weary 
victims  of  warring  passions,  pointing  always  to 
Heaven  ;  and  with  their  open  doors  inviting  the  be- 
reaved and  bleeding  hearts  of  time  to  seek  for  the 
light,  consolation,  and  healing  balm,  which  comes 
only  from  God  !  My  brethren,  how  barbarous,  and 
destitute  of  everything  calculated  to  inspire  reve- 
rence and  love,  must  that  country  be,  where  no  sa- 
cred edifices  of  suitable  magnificence  meet  the  eye 
of  the  stranger,  to  relieve  the  pain  and  weariness 
with  which  he  gazes  upon  the  wide-spreading  tokens 
of  human  guilt  and  misery  ! — where  there  is  nothing 
to  bespeak  the  ever-present  sense  of  rehgion  over 


12  Consecration  of  Grace  Church. 

the  liearts  of  the  people — nothing  to  stand  perpet- 
ually before  the  eyes  of  the  joung,  calculated  to 
train  their  fresh  and  ardent  feelings  into  a  channel 
of  admiration  for  what  is  good  and  great,  for  what 
is  beautiful  in  art,  or  elevating  in  the  successful  tri- 
umphs of  architectural  science,  and  thus  building  up 
that  enthusiastic  and  unconquerable  love  of  country 
which  an  early  and  intelligent  contemplation  of  its 
noble  monuments  of  piety  and  greatness  is  sure  to 
inspire,  while  it  familiarizes  their  thoughts  with  all 
that  is  transporting  in  the  prospects  which  Christian- 
ity unfolds  to  the  eye  of  Faith ! 

Let  no  man  say,  then,  that  it  is  but  a  vain  thing  to 
rear  by  the  side  of  our  thronged  thoroughfare  such 
a  sanctuary  as  this.  It  is  a  common  spiritual  home, 
the  completion  of  which  calls  forth  the  most  earnest 
congratulations,  and  constitutes  a  bond  of  most  in- 
dissoluble union  to  the  people  whose  liberality, 
prayers,  and  toil  have  made  it  what  it  is.  "We  have 
surely  not  now  to  learn  how  extensively  national 
morals  are  influenced  by  the  cultivation  of  the  na- 
tional taste  ;  and  how  ennobling  is  the  influence  of 
the  finer  arts  upon  the  grosser  and  lower  nature  of 
man.  Friends,  and  Christian  patriots  !  if  you  would 
refine,  purify,  and  impart  moral  energy  to  the  people 
who  are  to  give  character,  power,  and  destiny  to  this 
young  country,  strive  to  difi'use  widely,  and  in  the 
most  enduring  forms,  these  models  of  excellence  in 
all  that  is  grand,  harmonious,  and  beautiful — which 
through  along,  long  course  of  wasting  time  have  con- 
trived to  command  the  world's  admiration,  in  undi- 


Consecration  of  Grace  Church.  13 

minished  freshness.  Above  all  things  else,  let  noth- 
ing of  supineness  nor  of  selfishness  deter  you  from 
aiding  to  the  utmost  of  your  power,  in  the  highest 
and  most  solemn  of  all  public  duties,  that  of  studding 
every  corner  of  our  land  with  houses  of  glory  and 
beauty  ;  upon  which  shall  be  inscribed  in  letters  of 
light,  "  Holiness  unto  the  Lord."  Let  us  strive  with 
an  industry  that  never  flags  nor  tires,  to  plant  tliem 
on  the  streets  and  lanes  of  our  cities,  in  the  hamlets 
of  our  counties,  and  by  the  side  of  every  high- 
way and  path,  as  husbandry  advances  its  peaceful 
conquests  over  the  ruggedness  of  the  wilderness. 
Let  us  resolve,  that  so  far  as  in  us  lies,  they  shall 
everywhere  meet  the  eye  in  a  fulness  of  stature  meet 
for  their  position,  and  for  their  high  and  solemn 
uses.  And  never,  my  brethren,  let  us  pass  a  sanctu- 
ary of  the  Lord,  rising  in  its  beautiful  proportions, 
and  in  its  vastness  and  chaste  majesty  admonishing 
us  with  silent  impressiveness  of  the  pollution  and  in- 
significance of  man,  without  a  silent  ejaculation  of 
thanks  and  praise  that  our  land  is  blessed  with  a 
people  who  thus  adore  and  magnify  the  God  of  na- 
tions; and  that  as  countless  blessings  are  thus  won 
down  for  us  all,  no  matter  under  wliat  standard  we 
may  have  enlisted  in  the  army  of  Christ,  yea,  bless- 
ings won  down  for  us  all,  as  we  and  they  who  are 
to  come  after  us  shall  continue  to  run  a  long  career 
of  national  glory.  So,  too,  may  we  meekly  trust 
that  with  all  our  errors  blotted  from  the  book  of 
God's  remembrance  through  the  merits  of  a  common 
Redeemer,  we  shall  all  at  last  be  found  together  at  His 


14:  Consecration  of  Grace   Cliureh. 

right  hand,  as  friends  and  fellow-citizens  in  the  city 
of  our  God. 

I  do  not  believe  it  possible  for  the  humblest  laborer 
who  has  toiled  to  lay  these  huge  stones  one  upon 
another  ever  to  look  back  upon  the  work  he  has 
wrought,  with  its  "  long-drawn  aisles  and  vaulted 
roof,"  without  a  feeling  of  awe  and  veneration — with- 
out being  lifted  for  a  moment,  at  least,  above  the 
fascinations  of  base  and  brutal  joys — M'ithout  reali- 
zing a  passing  breath  of  inspiration,  leading  him  to 
devotion — without  a  leaning  of  the  weak  and  stained 
soul  towards  sanctity,  and  yearning  of  the  worn  and 
weary  spirit  for  the  rest  of  Heaven, 

Who  can  estimate  the  value  of  such  impressions 
as  the  subduing  influence  of  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand  temples  shall  be  felt,  as  they  may  be  multi- 
plied by  all  Christian  sects,  in  continually  increas- 
ing power  and  splendor,  as  the  world  rolls  on  its 
sw^eeping  tide  of  passing  mortals.  But  mark  it,  I  say 
not  that  all  churches  which  we  are  to  build  are  to  be 
enriched  alike  by  the  same  unstinting  application  of 
the  silver  and  the  gold  which  God  supplies.  But  I  do 
say,  that  the  wealth  with  which  God  may  arm  us  for 
good,  is  to  be  applied  without  rest  and  without  nig- 
gardliness towards  supplying  the  stream  of  immortal 
minds  which  is  perpetually  flowing  in  upon  us  with 
houses  of  prayer,  with  solemn  places  of  training  for 
their  duties  to  God  and  man,  I  say  that  these  sa- 
cred places  are  always  to  be  adapted,  in  the  wisdom 
which  prayer  will  win  for  us,  to  the  condition  of  the 
people  who  are  to  use  them. 


Consecration  of  Grace  Church.  15 

The  poor  man,  lifted  by  the  expansive  and  liber- 
alizing faith  of  Christ  above  the  evil  eye  of  jealousy, 
is  so  far  from  repining  that  his  own  lot  should  save 
him  from  the  harassing  cares  of  opulence,  that  he 
rejoices  with  grateful  joy  that  although  he  has  not 
been  thus  charged,  yet  that  instruments  are  employ- 
ed by  Heaven  to  bless  and  embellish  society  in  its 
high  places.  I  say  that  he  is  not  only  content  to 
have  it  so,  and  to  cherish  a  generous  pride  that  his 
religion  should  be  thus  honored,  and  the  country 
which  his  children  are  to  inhabit  be  thus  adorned, 
but  he  feels  that  it  is  his  privilege  and  high  duty,  in 
the  "  liberty  with  which  Christ  has  made  him  free," 
and  in  the  boldness  of  a  soldier  of  the  cross,  to  cry 
aloud  to  his  richer  neighbor,  and  to  admonish  him 
of  the  expectation  which  the  people  cherish  that 
he  would  employ  his  high  trusts  for  usefulness  lu- 
minously. That  he  should  be  forever  active  in  set- 
ting forth  before  men  the  honor  of  the  God  he 
professes  to  serve ;  and  so  to  set  it  forth,  that  the  chil- 
dren of  the  poor,  as  their  young  eyes  open  upon  these 
noble  monuments  of  pious  liberality,  may  glow  with 
virtuous  pride,  and  be  early  fired  with  a  secret  de- 
termination always  to  love  what  is  great,  holy,  and 
divine,  never  to  give  up  the  religion  of  their  fathers, 
and  never  to  desert  the  country  where  these  sacred 
feelings  have  been  formed  and  cherished  ! 

But  the  Christian  man  of  low  position  in  the  scale 
of  this  earth's  w^ealth  must  not  stop  here  ;  it  is  indeed 
his  duty  to  cheer  on  his  richer  friend  to  do  all  these 
great  things  with  his  great  means,  but  then  he,  too, 


16  Consecration  of  Grace  Church. 

must  go  on,  anxiously  to  remind  him  that  his  work 
can  never  be  done  while  life  lasts.  He  must  carry  him 
to  the  narrow  lanes  of  our  city  where  poverty  dwells, 
poverty  ghastly  with  disease,  and  famishing  in  wretch- 
edness. He  must  show  him  what  an  immense 
amount  of  spiritual  ignorance  and  awful  wickedness 
is  congregated  in  our  midst,  which  no  light  of  Chris- 
tian education  has  ever  reached,  and  where  no  sound 
of  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  is  ever  heard.  He 
must  show  him  in  the  startling  colors  of  the  most 
awful  reality,  how  pressing  is  the  necessity  for  him 
to  be  active  in  devising  and  executing  schemes  for 
dispersing  moral  darkness,  for  breaking  the  fetters 
of  sin,  for  relieving  human  misery,  and  in  providing 
institutions  for  the  constant  diffusion  of  the  life- 
giving  words  of  eternal  truth, 

O  !  it  is  in  this  way  that  the  labors  of  the  poorest 
among  men  are  oftentimes  of  priceless  worth  ;  labors 
of  persuasion  and  importunity,  in  unfolding  evils  to 
be  corrected,  in  discovering  wants  to  be  supplied, 
and  in  leading  others  to  accomplish  what  he  convinces 
them  that  they  should  do.  Ay,  it  is  this  way  that 
the  prayers  and  toils  of  the  lowly  disciple  of  Christ, 
although  not  so  dazzling  to  the  outward  eye  as  the 
doings  of  some  men,  are  yet  of  inestimable  value  to 
the  world ;  and  perhaps  not  the  less  worthy  of  the 
highest  rewards  of  that  great  day,  when  the  rich 
and  the  poor  shall  meet  together  before  the  Lord, 
who  is  the  Maker  of  them  all. 

It  is  in  this  way,  my  brethren,  that  I,  in  my  simple 
earnestness,  would  seize  upon  this  occasion  of  joyous 


Consecration  of  Grace  Church.  IT 

congratulation,  to  lead  yon  on  from  one  good  and 
glorious  work  to  another,  perhaps  more  really 
GOOD,  perhaps  more  truly  glorious  still.  You  have, 
indeed,  provided  for  yourselves,  and  for  the  deathless 
spirits  of  your  little  ones,  this  place  of  prayer,  in  all 
of  its  soothing  and  subduing  associations  of  solem- 
nity and  beauty  ;  and  now  have  I  come  to  persuade 
you  to  go  on  and  provide  for  the  spiritual  and  eternal 
wants  of  the  poor,  whom  God  has  commanded  to  be 
always  with  you. 

My  object  is  to  ask  you — and  I  am  made  bold  by 
the  consideration  that  I  have  never  yet  asked  anything 
and  have  been  refused  by  you — my  object  is  to  ask, 
that  you  will  give  me  the  means  of  building,  and  pre- 
paring for  the  most  efficient  and  the  most  immediate 
operation,  Grace  Church  Chapel,  a  church  in  which 
the  word  and  sacraments  shall  be  administered  accor- 
ding to  our  forms,  and  the  sittings  shall  always  be 
free,  to  all  who  will  use  them  for  their  souls'  good. 
My  brethren,  how  graceful,  how  complete,  how  en- 
tirely satisfying  to  the  heart  of  the  philanthropist 
and  the  Christian,  will  be  such  a  conclusion  to  this 
our  noble  beginning  !  Can  any  one  doubt  as  to  his 
duty  in  this  matter,  when  I  tell  him  that  we  are  at 
this  moment  surrounded  by  more  than  200,000  souls 
who  are  without  any  possible  means  of  religious  in- 
struction and  comfort.  With  a  population  of  more 
than  370,000,  we  have  but  about  200  churches  of  all 
denominations  ;  and  if  we  allow  an  average  of  800  to 
each  church,  it  will  leave  us  with  the  enormous 
ainount  of  210,000  humau  beings  for  whom  there  is 


18  Consecration  of  Grace  Church. 

no  room,  no  sanctuary,  to  which  they  can  retreat 
when  fretted,  fevered,  and  enfeebled  by  their  conflicts 
with  the  enemies  of  Christian  peace  and  salvation  ;  no 
fountain  of  spiritual  light  and  comfort  to  which  they 
can  resort,  when  perplexed  and  stupified  by  the  dark- 
ness and  crushing  difHculties  of  their  lot,  and  when 
bowed  and  broken  by  a  deep  sense  of  guilt,  and  un- 
der the  heart-wringing  anguish  of  bereavement.  Is 
this  state  of  things  to  continue,  without  one  Chris- 
tian effort  to  amend  it  ?  With  a  population  in- 
creasing with  a  rapidity  altogether  unexampled,  and 
destined,  as  I  verily  believe,  to  advance  still  more  rap- 
idly than  it  has  ever  yet  done,  shall  our  means  for 
religious  training  keep  no  sort  of  pace  with  the  per- 
petually advancing  demands  which  will  thus  be  made 
upon  us  ?  Shall  the  swarms  of  children  from  these 
accumulating  myriads  of  human  beings  continue  to 
rise  into  life  only  to  fill  up  the  measure  of  their  pa- 
rents' wickedness,  living  in  profligacy  and  degradation, 
setting  light  by  father  and  mother,  despising  govern- 
ment, vexing  the  widow  and  robbing  the  fatherless, 
defiling  the  land  with  lewdness,  and  with  their  fright- 
ful profanity  and  shameless  contempt  for  God's  Sab- 
baths ;  provoking  God's  righteous  anger,  until  they 
shall  draw  down  upon  us  His  blighting  vengeance, 
to  wrap  our  dwellings  in  fiames  and  bathe  our  homes 
in  blood. 

My  brethren,  the  ear  of  our  God  is  not  heavy,  that 
it  cannot  hear,  nor  His  eye  dim,  that  it  cannot  see, 
nor  has  His  arm  become  powerless,  that  it  cannot 
strike.     He  has  not  ceased  to  regard  iniquity  with 


Consecration  of  Grace  Church.  19 

tlie  same  abhorrence  which  brought  its  sweeping 
desolation  over  the  countries  of  old  ;  which  gave  the 
palaces  of  Tyre  to  the  flames  falling  from  above; 
which  purified  the  plains  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  by 
the  fires  of  hell  bursting  out  from  beneath,  and  render- 
ed Jerusalem,  once  the  chosen  city  of  His  love,  no  more 
than  a  proverb  and  a  by-word — no  more  than  a  blast- 
ed monument  of  departed  grandeur.  "  The  things 
which  have  been  shall  be."  With  our  God  is  neither 
"  variableness  nor  shadow  of  turning ;"  only  let  •  the 
same  cause  exist,  and  the  same  result  will  be  inevita- 
ble. Only  let  the  flood  of  ungodliness  go  on  increas- 
ing in  volume  and  in  violence,  until  it  sweeps  away 
every  vestige  of  reverence  for  the  God  of  purity  and 
right,  and  the  voice  of  supplication  shall  no  more  be 
heard  in  the  land,  and  then  will  the  flood-gates  of  God's 
all-sweeping  wrath  be  opened  upon  us,  and  all  our 
boasted  glory  be  no  more  than  a  tale  upon  the  rec- 
ords of  the  past !  But,  my  brethren,  will  you  not 
say  with  me  that  this  shall  not  be  so,  if  ten  righteous 
men,  in  God's  forbearing  justice,  can  save  a  city? 
This  shall  not  be  so,  if  we  are  only  permitted  to  plant 
temples  of  solemn  worship  wherever  worshippers  can 
be  gathered,  whose  prayers  and  alms  shall  go  up  as 
a  memorial  for  us  before  God.  Their  pleadings  will 
be  the  bulwarks  and  safeguards  of  our  people.  They 
will  reflect  God's  moral  image  in  beauty  and  bright- 
ness over  the  dark  mass  of  pollution  that  swells 
around  them,  and  we  shall  be  spared  and  blessed  for 
their  sakes. 

Only  let  the  State  be  true  to  herself  in  imparting 


20  ConseGration  of  Grace  Church. 

to  the  children  of  her  people  the  light  of  education, 
and  then  we  shall  not  be  true  to  ourselves,  as  the  un- 
slumbering  disciples  of  Him  who  is  Himself  the  light 
and  the  life,  if  we  fail  to  show  to  the  little  ones  thus 
enlightened  "  the  way  and  the  truth  " — if  we  strive 
not  to  gather  them  into  that  fold  from  which  the  j  may- 
no  more  go  out — if  we  leave  anything  undone  by 
which  we  may  indelibly  impress  them  with  the 
true  nature  of  that  priceless  blessing  of  liberty  which 
is  so  well  their  boast — if  we  do  not  show  them  in 
the  lessons  of  all  human  experience,  that  freedom 
does  not  consist  in  doing  what  they  please,  but  only 
in  doing  what  is  right.  Because,  if  all  men  were 
free  to  do  just  what  their  corrupt  passions  would  lead 
them  to  do,  without  regard  to  the  restraints  of  law 
and  the  sanctions  of  justice,  then  no  man  would 
long  be  at  liberty  to  pursue  the  glorious  path  of 
honorable  rectitude.  Each  one  would  soon  find 
himself  bound  in  the  chains  which  are  forged  by  the 
fires  of  hell.  "  Passion  would  be  in  the  place  of 
principle,  and  lust  would  be  law  "—every  man's  hand 
would  be  armed  against  his  brother ;  the  strong  would 
be  cruel  tyrants,  and  the  weak  would  be  cringing 
slaves ;  all  men  would  be  enemies  to  each  other, 
and  all  alike  blasted  outcasts  from  the  glorious  favor 
of  their  God.  Yea,  my  brethren,  well  does  it  be- 
come us  to  teach  it  to  our  sons,  that  the  only  true 
liberty  in  man  rests  in  that  wise  submission  to 
the  beautiful  law  of  right,  which  leaves  each  one 
free  from  all  other  men,  and,  through  the  grace  of 
God    free  from  the  bonds  of  his  own  sins  and  evil 


Consecration  of  Grace  Church.  21 

habits,  and  thus  left  to  do  only  what  is  pure, 
just,  and  true.  This  is  the  highest  liberty  in  man ; 
it  is  the  liberty  of  angels ;  it  is  the  liberty  of  God  ! 
This  liberty  is  the  boon  of  the  gospel,  not  the  pur- 
chase of  the  sword ;  and  the  weapons  with  which 
we  must  contend  for  it,  in  its  fearful  conflicts  with 
the  brutal  passions  and  sordid  interests  of  the  world, 
must  be  polished  for  our  successful  use  in  the  armory 
of  God. 

Now,  it  is  for  these  high  objects,  as  lasting  as 
eternity,  and  as  transporting  as  the  sublime  prospect 
of  immortality  can  render  them,  I  have  come  to  ask 
your  charity.  I  ask  it  in  the  name  of  Him  whose 
solemn  whispers  of  persuasion  may  be  heard  in  every 
breast,  giving  utterance  to  that  solemn  truth,  '*  The 
silver  is  mine  and  the  gold  is  mine."  You  are  the 
tenants,  not  the  owners.  You  hold  in  trust,  not  of 
right.  Give  me  of  that  which  is  mine,  and  by  this 
act  of  free  and  ready  obedience,  lay  up  in  store  a 
resource  of  strong  consolation  for  the  remaining 
years  of  time,  and  which  may  serve  to  lighten  the 
pressure  of  that  sense  of  unprofitableness  wliich  may 
weigh  heayily  upon  your  last  hour. 

But  to  end  as  I  began,  let  me  recur  to  our  text. 
"  The  silver  is  mine  and  the  gold  is  mine,  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts.  The  glory  of  this  latter  house 
shall  be  greater  than  of  the  former,  saith  the  Lord 
of  Hosts."  God  grant  it,  brethren,  that  this  assu- 
rance of  our  God,  when  applied  to  our  present  cir- 
cumstances, may  indeed  be  fulfilled  in  a  far  higher 
Bense  than  that  of  merely  outward  splendor.     And 


22  Consecration  of  Grace  Church. 

yet  who  is  there  of  us  that  can  recall  the  many 
touching  associations  connected  with  that  former 
house,  where  our  fathers  worshipped,  without  being 
melted  with  irrepressible  feelings  of  sadness  ? 

As  a  parish,  our  annals  are  brief  and  simple. 
Grace  Church  was  organized  less  than  forty  years 
ago,  by  a  portion  of  the  congregation  of  Trinity 
Parish,  for  whom  there  was  no  room  in  the  mother 
church.  As  our  origin  was  peaceful,  so  has  our  con- 
stant progress  been  harmonious  and  steadily  prosper- 
ous. No  contentions  have  arisen  to  disturb  us.  No 
root  of  bitterness  has  sprung  up  to  spread  its  poisonous 
influence  through  the  atmosphere  of  peace  and  love 
in  which  we  have  lived.  From  our  earliest  existence 
as  a  parish,  down  to  this  very  hour,  have  we  been 
most  pre-eminently  blessed  ;  and  indeed,  my  brethren, 
our  hearts  should  swell  with  boundless  gratitude, 
while  we  tremble  at  the  thought  of  the  perils  and  re- 
sponsibilities amid    which  we  stand. 

The  first  Rector  of  Grace  Church  was  the  Rev. 
Nathaniel  Bowen,  D.  D.,  whose  faithful,  affection- 
ate, and  efficient  labors  continued  through  a  course 
of  more  than  nine  years,  and  can  only  be  forgotten 
when  death  shall  have  removed  from  among  us  the 
last  of  that  devoted  band  of  worshippers  trained  by 
him  for  their  journey  along  the  narrow  way  toward 
the  gate  of  Heaven,  and  whose  delight  it  was  to 
cherish  him  as  their  pastor,  counsellor,  and  friend. 

In  the  year  1817,  Dr.  Bowen  removed  to  South 
Carolina,  and  was  soon  afterward  chosen  to  be  the 
Bishop   of  that   diocese.     In  1839  he  passed  away 


Consecration  of  Grace  Church.  23 

from  the  earth,  amid  the  tears  of  his  diocese,  and,  as 
we  trust,  in  the  sure  hope  of  a  glorious  immortality. 
In  1818,  Dr.  Bowen  was  succeeded  in  the  Rector- 
ship of  Grace  Church  by  the  Rev.  James  Montgom- 
ery, D.D.,  a  man  of  unusual  powers,  of  fervent 
zeal,  of  transparent  frankness  of  character,  and  sin- 
gular purity  of  life.  After  a  brief  ministry  of  two 
years,  Dr.  Montgomery  removed  to  Pennsylvania ; 
and  in  the  midst  of  a  bright  career  of  usefulness, 
and  in  the  meridian  of  his  days,  he  was  summoned 
to  his  eternal  reward  !  The  next  name  upon  this 
list  of  Rectors,  is  that  of  a  gentleman  whom  I  need 
scarcely  name  to  this  congregation  ;  and  with  the 
expression  of  my  regret  that  the  delicacy  which  is 
due  to  the  feelings  of  a  present  friend  must  restrain 
me  from  the  utterance  of  panegyric  upon  a  course 
of  twelve  years'  pastoral  service,  so  faithfully  and  suc- 
cessfully conducted  as  to  be  rarely  equalled,  I  will 
only  mention,  as  links  in  our  historical  chain,  that  the 
Rev.  Jonathan  M.  "Wainwright,  D.  D.,  became  the 
Rector  of  Grace  Church  in  1821,  and  in  1833  he  re- 
signed his  charge  and  removed  to  the  city  of  Boston. 
In  1834  the  care  of  this  large  congregation  of  souls 
passed  into  the  hands  of  him  who  now  so  feebly  ad- 
dresses you.  The  amount  of  good  he  may  have 
achieved,  through  the  strength  of  Jesus,  in  this 
lapse  of  irretrievable  time,  can  be  known  only  at 
that  great  day  which  is  before  us,  when  the  secrets 
of  all  hearts  shall  be  disclosed.  But  one  thing  you 
will,  in  your  clemency,  pardon  him  for  saying,  and 
that  is,  that    his  insufficiency  for  the  duties  with 


24  Consecration  of  Grace  Church. 

which  he  has  been  charged,  could  never  have  been 
perceived  half  so  clearly  by  any  one  as  by  himself, 
and  can  never  be  lamented  half  so  keenly  by  any 
heart  as  by  his  own.  Brethren,  my  task  for  this 
day  is  done.  We  have  consecrated  this  beauti- 
ful temple  to  the  Majesty  of  Heaven — to  God  the 
Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Henceforth  let  it  be  sacred,  and  preserved  in  holiness 
and  beauty  forever.  Let  nothing  that  is  unclean 
ever  enter  to  defile  it.  Let  no  feelings  be  cherished 
here  inconsistent  witli  the  deep  emotions  of  penitence 
— ^the  transporting  views  of  faith — the  serene  joys  of 
hope,  and  the  bland  delights  which  spring  witli  per- 
petually renewing  freshness  from  the  never-failing 
fountains  of  God-like  charity.  Let  no  voice  ever  be 
heard  here  other  than  in  the  language  of  praise  and 
thanksgiving,  the  voice  of  supplication,  of  religious 
warning,  and  instruction.  Let  no  shibboleth  ever 
be  sounded  here  only  to  summon  cold  hearts  and 
fiery  tempers  into  the  rancorous  phalanx  of  party. 
Let  no  bitter  denunciation  of  other  men's  errors  ever 
ring  harshly  against  these  harmonious  arches.  Let 
the  banner  which  is  here  unfurled  in  the  name  of 
Christ  be  stamped  with  "the  truth  and  charity." 
Let  us  always  remember  that  we  war  with  principles, 
not  with  men,  and  that  error  in  opinion  may  not  al- 
ways be  damning  crime.  Let  no  boastful  and  offen- 
sive assumption  of  superiority  ever  be  heard  here,  only 
to  provoke  opposition,  to  stir  up  the  embers  of  pre- 
judice and  passion,  and  thus  to  deter  men  from  ad- 
vancing into  the  full,  clear  light  of  what  we  believe 


Consecration  of  Grace  Church.  25 

to  be  truth.  Let  no  cold  indifference  to  the  eternal 
sacredness  of  truth  ever  here  take  the  prostituted 
name  of  liberality,  only  because  it  is  wide  enough  to 
comprehend  all  opinions,  and  deep  enough  to  merge 
and  sink  all  creeds.  Let  no  craven  cry  of  adulation 
and  subserviency  to  the  vicious  fashions  of  the  pow- 
erful ever  rise  from  the  lips  of  mortal  man,  who  may 
here  be  clothed  in  the  mantle  of  a  soldier  and  ser- 
vant of  the  most  high  God.  Let  no  man  venture  to 
minister  here  whose  shrinking  timidity  or  vacilla- 
ting imbecility  may  render  him  an  easy  prey  to  the 
tempter,  who  is  ever  busy  in  seducing  men  to  tamper 
with  those  unrelaxing  laws  of  morals  which  were 
written  in  the  lightning  of  God  upon  the  stones  of 
Sinai,  and  sealed  with  His  thunder.  Let  neither 
frown  nor  favor,  no  consideration  of  earth  or  power 
of  hell,  ever  lead  here  to  the  concealment  of  any  one 
feature  in  that  glorious  covenant  of  mercy  which 
was  the  object  of  faith  and  fountain  of  hope  in  fall- 
en man,  from  the  hour  of  his  expulsion  from  Eden 
until  it  was  confirmed  on  Calvary,  when  the  shrouded 
sun  and  trembling  earth,  the  bursting  rocks  and 
yawning  tombs,  attested  God's  love  to  man  in  thus 
redeeming  him  from  the  debasement  and  ruin  of  sin 
and  evil.  Ay,  my  brethren,  it  is  to  the  diffusion  of 
all  the  regenerating,  sanctifying,  ennobling  and  trans- 
porting influences  which  are  associated  with  that  cov- 
enant of  grace  and  mercy,  that  we  have  consecrated 
our  house  of  prayer.  Here,  then,  let  our  little  ones 
be  brought,  to  be  sealed  as  His  own  with  God's  own 
signet,  while  we  make  our  humble  prayers  that  He, 

2 


26  Consecration  of  Grace  Church. 

by  His  spirit,  would  keep  them  firm  and  fast  in  the 
same  faith  and  fold  in  which  our  fathers  fell  asleep, 
and  where  they  will  find  their  best  comfort  in  life, 
and  only  hope  in  death.  Here,  too,  let  us  bring  our 
dead,  and  while  pouring  forth  the  tears  which  may 
be  wrung  from  our  bereaved  and  bleeding  hearts, 
let  the  associations  of  this  place  remind  us  of  Him 
who  is  the  "  resurrection  and  the  life,"  and  may  we 
thus  be  consoled  by  knowing  that  the  dead — even 
our  own  dead — shall  "  rise  again,"  and  be  clothed 
with  immortality. 

Brethren,  may  the  glory  with  which  this  house 
shall  be  covered  be  not  the  glory  of  the  silver  or  of 
the  gold,  but,  bearing  it  in  our  honest  liearts  to  the 
throne  of  Grace,  may  God  pour  out  upon  its  wor- 
shippers, encircled  in  the  humility  of  penitence,  such 
abundant  means  of  His  spirit,  that  the  peace,  par- 
don, and  safety  which  shall  here  be  found  may  in- 
deed pass  all  human  understanding. 


^^^ 

^^^^^g 

^^ 

^1 

^^^g^^ 

r^^^^^mnfflo 

^^^^ 

WiR^ 

i^HSBB 

^^^^^^^ 

^^^ 

^^ 

T^^  REVELATION  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES. 

"  Understandest  thou  what  thou  readest?  And  he  said :  How  can 
I,  except  some  man  should  guide  me?  " 

Acts  8ih,  SOt/i. 

|UCH,  my  brethren,  was  the  question 
proposed  by  Philip,  the  teacher  sent  by 
God ;  and  such  was  the  answer  of  that 
illustrious  Ethiopian  convert,  who  was 
meekly  searching  for  the  will  of  his  God,  in  order 
that  he  might  do  it. 

It  is  a  question  which  every  humble-minded 
Christian  must  frequently  put  to  his  own  heart,  no 
matter  at  what  part  of  the  sacred  book  he  reads  the 
words  of  his  God,  And  the  more  that  he  reads,  and 
the  more  that  he  prays,  so  much  the  more  will  the 
majesty  and  vastness  of  the  themes  open  before  him  ; 
and  the  more  that  the  greatness,  the  depth,  and  the 
comprehensiveness  of  the  truths  are  unfolded,  so 
much  the  more  will  his  humility  of  heart  and  dis- 
trust of  his  own  powers  be  increased,  and  the  more 
will  he  sigh  for  some  man  to  guide  him  to  a  perfect 
understanding  of  all  these  things. 

I  have  selected  the  words  before  us,  as  the  basis 


28  The  Bevelation  of  the  Scri/ptures. 

of  my  remarks  to-day,  not  so  much  to  draw  your 
attention  to  the  incidents  with  which  they  are  con- 
nected, as  to  apply  them  in  their  spirit  to  the  whole 
volume  of  Revelation.  Believing,  as  I  do,  that  upon 
the  grand  points  of  faith  and  duty  the  Scriptures  are 
so  plain,  that  it  is  impossible  for  the  most  simple- 
minded  of  the  earth  to  err  fatally  as  to  what  they 
must  believe  and  do,  in  order  to  obtain  salvation, 
yet  I  am  persuaded,  that  there  are  but  few  of  us  but 
must  feel,  as  we  advance  in  life,  that  there  is  much 
more  to  be  known  in  every  part  of  the  Scriptures 
than  we  have  ever  yet  been  able  fully  to  master. 
And  as  the  sun  of  our  day  of  life  declines,  and  our 
time  grows  hourly  shorter,  we  become  more  anxious 
to  avail  ourselves  of  all  the  helps  which  God  may 
graciously  provide,  to  guide  us  to  a  full  understand- 
ing of  the  words  of  immortal  life.  The  more  that 
we  read,  and  think,  and  pray,  the  more  are  we  sure 
to  be  made  to  see  meaning  where  we  saw  none 
before.  The  more  we  are  in  this  way  permitted  to 
know,  so  much  the  more  are  we  desirous  of  knowing ; 
and  we  are  constantly  led  to  exclaim,  "  How  can  I 
understand  these  things  except  some  man  should 
guide  me  ? " 

But  while  I  urge  you  to  meek  and  prayerful  study 
of  the  oracles  of  everlasting  life,  let  me  at  the  same 
time  warn  you  against  the  unreasonableness  and  folly 
of  expecting  too  much,  in  the  way  of  curious  informa- 
tion, upon  subjects  not  immediately  connected  with 
salvation.  Because  industry  and  learning,  directed 
with  meekness  and  prayer,  may  expect  to  be  rewarded 


TJie  Revelation  of  the  Scriptures.  29 

with  the  discovery  of  many  truths  not  lying  upon  the 
surface,  nor  always  plain  to  the  indolent  and  the  careless 
reader,  we  are  not,  therefore,  to  expect  that  we  shall 
ever  in  this  life  be  permitted  to  know  everything.^  or 
that  our  vain  wislies  will  ever  be  gratified  with  re- 
gard to  those  mysteries  in  nature  and  in  religion 
which  our  present  faculties  are  incapable  of  compre- 
hending— which  it  would  be  not  only  useless,  but 
positively  injurious  for  us  to  know— and  which  will, 
therefore,  always  remain  as  dark  and  impenetrable  to 
man  as  they  now  are. 

Our  inquiries,  therefore,  must  always  be  limited  to 
reasonable  and  profitable  exercises.  Men  may  perplex 
themselves  with  abstruse  and  puzzling  speculations, 
in  trying  to  analyze  the  plans  of  Providence.  But 
they  forget  that  these  subtle  inquiries,  if  entirely  suc- 
cessful, cannot  sanctify  the  soul — they  cannot  renew 
the  heart  of  man — they  cannot  bring  the  joys  of 
Heaven  any  nearer  to  us  than  we  have  them. 

It  is  easy  to  ask  questions  about  the  eternity  of 
matter — the  origin  of  evil — the  place  or  part  of 
the  immensity  of  God  where  Heaven  is — and  what 
is  the  nature  of  those  employments  amid  which  glo- 
rified spirits  are  rejoicing.  But  to  what  end  is  all 
this  ?  How  would  we  be  better  ofi"  by  knowing  the 
origin  of  evil  ?  Is  it  not  enough  for  us  to  know  that 
if  we  would  ever  get  to  Heaven,  we  must  resist  evil 
in  our  own  hearts  %  Why  should  we  seek  to  know 
HOW  rr  IS  that  God  will  ultimately  bring  good  out  of 
all  evil  ?  Is  it  not  enough  to  know,  that  God  offers 
us  all  the  help  we  can  ever  need,  to  subdue  the  evil 


30  The  Itevelaiion  of  th^  Scriptures. 

that  is  in  us  ?  Why  should  we  seek  to  explore  the 
length  and  breadth  of  immensity  and  eternity?  Is 
it  not  enough  that  we  have  been  born  inhabitants  of 
that  immensity ;  and  that,  being  made  in  God's 
image,  we  will  endure  throughout  the  endless  cycles 
of  that  eternity;  that  our  happiness  there  will  just 
depend  upon  our  conduct  here?  Why  should  we 
inquire  into  the  lines  and  boundaries  which  separate 
free-will  in  man  from  fore-knowledge  in  God  ?  Is  it 
not  enough  that  reason,  conscience,  and  revelation 
combine  to  assure  us  that  we  are  free  to  do  good, 
and  can  always  find  strength  to  subdue  evil  ?  Why 
should  we  puzzle  ourselves  about  the  difference 
between  matter  and  spiRrr  ?  Is  it  not  enough  for 
us  to  know  that  it  will  little  avail  us  if  we  were  to 
gain  the  whole  universe  of  matter,  and  lose  that 
little  particle  of  spirit  which  we  call  our  own  ? 
Why  should  we  inquire  too  anxiously  into  the  local 
position  of  the  home  of  the  blessed?  Or  why 
should  we  ask  to  be  told  where  the  place  of  pun- 
ishment is  fixed  ?  Is  it  not  enough  for  us  to 
know,  that  there  is  happiness  without  alloy  and 
without  end  for  them  who  are  faithful  to  duty 
even  unto  deatJi — and  that  crime  and  wrong-do- 
ing bring  misery  now,  and  must  bring  misery  here- 
after ?  Why  should  we  pry  too  curiously  into  the 
employments  of  the  saints  in  bliss  ?  If  the  blue 
curtain  of  yonder  skies  were  to  be  withdrawn,  and 
the  abodes  of  the  blessed  unfolded  to  our  wondering 
view,  would  it  not  overpower  us  ?  Would  not  our 
thoughts  and  aifections  be  absolutely  and  always  ab- 


The  Revelation  of  the  Scriptures.  31 

SOEBED  in  the  contemplation  ?  "Would  we  not  hasten, 
in  rash  impatience,  to  be  ourselves  partakers  in  a 
bliss  so  ravishing?  Would  not  everything  that 
detained  us  from  it  be  looked  upon  as  chains  and 
prisons  and  torture  ?  Would  not  all  industry  stag- 
nate, and  the  wide  earth  become  one  vast  scene  of 
desolation,  famine,  and  death  ?  Why  should  any 
mortal  desire  to  hold  intercourse  with  the  spirits 
who  have  already  crossed  the  dark  gulf  of  death  ? 
Can  any  one  really  and  truly  believe  that  such  an 
extravagant  wish  was  ever  actually  gratified,  and  yet 
that  the  privileged  few  beyond  the  lot  of  mortals 
would  retain  tlieir  sanity,  and  continue  capable  of 
the  ordinary  and  tame  occupations,  the  innocent  en- 
joyments, and  the  imperious  duties  of  life  ?  The 
delusion  in  all  such  cases  is  never  so  complete — the 
certainty  is  never  so  free  from  doubt — -but  that  it 
leaves  its  bewildered  victims  still  the  creatures  of 
time  and  of  sense,  of  passion  and  of  sin.  It  may,  in- 
deed, minister  to  a  morbid  self-conceit,  and  foster  an 
inordinate  love  of  notoriety,  but  the  delusion  has 
never  yet  been  known  to  increase  the  purity  or  the 
ennobling  joys  of  earth,  or  to  lit  its  victims  better 
for  their  passage  to  the  tomb.  It  cannot  be  sup- 
posed that  so  serious  and  imposing  a  departure  from 
the  ordinary  providence  and  the  constant  laws  of 
God,  as  the  free  intercourse  of  a  spirit  in  glory  with 
a  spirit  in  the  gross  veil  of  the  flesh,  would  be  per- 
mitted by  God  without  some  good  and  sufficient  end. 
But  where  has  such  high  and  holy  object  ever  yet 
been  manifested?     On   the  contrary,  have  not  the 


32  The  Revelation  of  the  Scriptures. 

occasions  upon  which  all  such  fancied  intercourse 
has  been  enjoyed  been  of  the  most  trivial  and  showy 
character  ;  and  have  not  the  pretended  revelations 
been  so  obviously  without  any  aim  or  object  higher 
than  the  vanities  of  the  earth,  as  to  throw  ridicule 
and  contempt  upon  the  morbid  and  sickly  fancies  of 
presumptuous  mortals? 

No,  no,  my  brethren;  if  our  departed  fathers  and 
mothers,  husbands  and  wives,  children  and  friends, 
were  permitted  to  hold  audible  communion  with  us 
here,  then  what  frowning  canon  of  God,  what  meas- 
ure of  care  for  the  welfare  of  the  earth,  could  restrain 
us  from  cutting  the  cords  that  bind  us  here,  so  that 
we  might  hurry  away  to  be  with  them  forever  ?  How 
would  we  shun  the  presence  of  our  fellows  upon  earth, 
with  tlieir  sordid,  prudent,  and  irksome  cares!  The 
whole  business  of  life  would  cease,  its  laborious  round 
of  duties  would  be  intolerable,  and  our  powers,  feel- 
ings, and  faculties  would  be  lost,  in  the  thirst  for  the 
perpetual  and  transporting  rapture  of  communing 
with  the  translated  and  unseen  spirits  of  our  love. 
Is  it  not,  then,  wise,  merciful,  and  best,  that  Paradise 
— the  invisible  place,  with  its  host  of  sainted  spirits — 
should  be  most  absolutely  shrouded  from  our  most 
anxious  powers  of  observation  ?  Any  further  disclo- 
sure would  most  surely  render  the  world  a  prison,  and 
a  place  of  torment.  We  would  no  longer  walk  by 
faith.  We  would  act  by  constraint,  not  willingly ; 
nor  would  it  be  by  "  putting  our  trust  in  God."  This 
world  would  be  no  theatre  for  the  trial  of  virtue,  or 
the  discipline  of  faith ;  and  its  wide  and  active  career 


The  Revelation  of  the  Scriptures.  33 

of  duties  would  cease!  Let  us,  then, be  content  to 
wait  for  a  further  revelation  of  His  dispensations  in 
that  higher  state  of  being  for  which  God  is  now  pre- 
paring us.  The  development  and  explication  will 
be  the  food  and  rapture  of  the  soul,  as  ages  roll  on 
through  our  eternity  of  being.  Angels  and  ripened 
saints  will  then  be  with  us  to  guide  and  instruct  us, 
while  we  "  read,  mark,  learn,  and  inwardly  digest." 
Yea,  when  death  shall  bring  us  into  the  society  of 
perfect  spirits,  then  shall  we  be  furnished  with  the 
key  which  can  unlock  the  mysteries  in  the  deep  coun- 
sels of  God.  As  they  are  gradually  unfolded,  we 
will  see  with  redoubled  force  the  utter  vanity  of  all 
our  foolish  repinings  and  doubting  thoughts  about 
the  mysteries  of  nature,  the  ways  of  Providence,  and 
the  wonders  of  Grace ! 

The  conclusion  of  the  matter  is,  that  after  the  ex- 
ample of  our  blessed  Lord,  we  are  to  check  all  pre- 
sumptuous prying  into  knowledge  which  would  be 
only  injurious  to  us.  We  must  be  satisfied  with  the 
grand  doctrines,  general  truths,  and  practical  pre- 
cepts revealed  to  us  in  the  gospel,  and  not  care  to 
dwell  upon  matters  either  of  inferior  moment,  or  else 
too  high  for  human  solution,  and  in  no  way  connected 
with  human  salvation. 

As  long,  my  brethren,  as  we  continue  to  see  the 
wicked  prospering  upon  earth,  while  the  good  are 
trodden  to  the  dust — as  long  as  we  see  selfishness 
driving  through  a  long,  reckless,  and  triumphant 
career,  while  hearts  full  of  generous  love  are  remorse- 
lessly lacerated  and  lie  at  our  feet,  torn  and  bleeding, 
2* 


34  The  Revelation  of  the  Scriptures. 

for  their  trustful  tenderness— so  long  will  human  life 
continue  to  be  a  problem,  enlisting  our  deepest  feel- 
ings, and  leading  us  to  cry  anxiously  for  some  man  to 
guide  us  to  a  wise  understanding  of  the  perplexing 
mysteries  of  our  lot.  The  only  solution  to  which  any 
man  can  bring  us  is  to  be  found  in  the  teaching  of 
the  man  Christ  Jesus  !  He  who,  leaving  the  glory 
which  He  had  with  the  Father  before  the  world  was, 
became  God  with  us,  that  He  might  reveal  the 
ways  of  heaven  to  man.  That  revelation  is  our  only 
guide  to  human  history  and  human  destiny.  It  is  a 
record  of  the  past,  a  teacher  for  the  present,  and  a 
light  revealing  the  future.  The  future  !  Ah,  who  is 
there  of  us  who  would  not  know  something  of  the 
future  ?  How  common,  how  insatiable,  have  ever 
been  the  cravings  in  the  human  breast  to  look  into  the 
future !  How  vain  and  silly  have  been  the  sources  to 
which  men  have  resorted  for  its  gratification  !  Alas  ! 
there  is  nothing  to  be  known,  there  is  nothing 
to  be  hoped  for  in  the  future,  beyond  that  which 
Christianity  reveals.  How  anxiously  and  honestly 
then  should  we  come  to  the  study  of  its  sacred,  its 
transporting  truths.  In  this  matter,  never  suppose 
that  contented  ignorance  is  a  Christian  grace  ;  never 
confound  uninquiring  indifference  about  religious 
knowledge  with  the  excellences  of  the  Christian  char- 
acter. The  more  the  mind  is  informed  as  to  the  true 
ways  of  God,  so  much  the  more  is  it  strengthened  to 
encounter  the  perils  and  to  discharge  the  heavy  duties 
of  life.  The  more  that  the  vessel  is  enlarged  with 
which  we  are  to  draw  water  from  the  "  wells  of  sal- 


The  Revelation  of  the  Scriptures.  35 

vation,"  so  much  the  more  will  we  be  disposed  to 
advance  knowledge,  truth,  and  charity  throughout 
the  world. 

To  this  study,  then,  let  us  meekly  and  devoutly 
come ;  with  all  the  means  of  grace,  and  all  the  light 
of  guidance,  with  which  our  God  may  provide  us. 
We  will  then  see  through  the  dark  cloud  of  mystery 
that  surrounds  us— we  will  see  the  bright  jnercies  of 
redeeming  love,  shining  sweetly  amid  all  the  perplex- 
ing calamities  of  life.  We  will  everywhere  see  evil 
working  out  good ;  confusion  generating  harmony, 
and  our  Father's  mighty  plans  moving  steadily  on, 
for  the  display  of  His  own  glory  in  the  happiness  of 
His  creatures.  When  depressed,  as  we  often  may  be, 
amid  the  disappointments,  the  bereavements,  and  the 
bitterness  of  our  lot — we  can  here  be  sustained  and 
refreshed  by  the  sweet  assurance  of  a  Parent's  al- 
mighty care,  and  a  Parent's  love,  that  never  sleeps 
nor  is  wearied.  And  then,  when  for  us  the  last  hour 
shall  come,  and  the  grave  is  seen  to  be  opening  to 
receive  us,  we  will  here  calmly  learn  that  as  the 
cross  is  the  ensign  of  glory,  so  too  is  the  tomb  the 
birth-place  of  immortality  to  man  ! 


THE  SAVING  TRUTH  OF  OUR  RELIGION. 

"  To  thin  end  was  I  horn,  and  for  this  cause  came  I  into  the 
world,  that  I  should  hear  witness  unto  the  truth.  Every  one  that 
is  of  the  truth  heareth  my  words. 

"  Pilate  saith  unto  him,  What  is  truth  ?  " 

John  18th,  Blth. 

OW  simple  and  how  holy  is  our  idea  of 
truth  !  How  open  and  how  honest  is  her 
aspect !  How  sweetly  does  she  invite 
pui'suit !  How  calmly  and  how  surely 
does  she  reward  her  votaries !  How  pure,  and  perma- 
nent, and  satisfying  is  the  light  which  she  dispenses  ! 
There  is  around  her  no  dazzling  brilliancy  to  bewil- 
der, no  splendor  to  overpower,  no  sternness  to  repel, 
no  uncertainty  to  perplex.  All  men  must  love  and 
reverence  \\\e  poetiy  of  truth. 

But  yet,  amid  the  ceaseless  conflicts  of  human  opin- 
ion, and  while  sick  with  strugsrlinsi;  to  free  ourselves 
from  the  entanglements  in  which  the  jarring  systems 
of  parties  and  sects  would  involve  us  in  religion,  where 
is  the  thoughtful  mind  that  is  not  perpetually  led  to 
exclaim  in  meekness,  "  "What  is  truth  ?  " 

If  she  be  so  transparent,  undisguised,  and  easy  of 
access  as  we  have  fondly  pictured  her,  why  is  it  that 
in  religion  all  men  find  her  not  ?     Oh  !  why  is  it 


The  Sa/oing  Truth  of  our  Religion.         3T 

that  the  gospel  of  truth,  instead  of  brining  to  all  men 
the  glad  tidings  of  certainty  and  peace,  should  ra- 
ther continue  to  fill  the  earth  with  perplexity,  conten- 
tion, and  bitterness  ? 

All  men  will  admit  that  nothing  can  be  more  dis- 
tressing to  the  human  mind  than  continued  anxiety 
and  doubt  in  reference  to  the  momentous  interests 
of  eternity.  And  it  is  equally  certain  that  all  of  the 
conflicting  systems  of  religious  doctrine,  which  pro- 
fess to  rest  upon  the  Bible,  cannot  be  equally  true. 
How  then  are  we  to  test  the  caprices  of  private  judg- 
ment ?  How  are  we  to  discriminate  between  holy 
truth  and  pernicious  error  ? 

My  brethren,  perverted  as  the  Scriptures  vasij 
have  been  by  human  ignorance,  and  by  the  licen- 
tiousness of  individual  caprice,  yet  the  unerring 
oracles  of  God  are  our  only  standard  of  right ;  and 
the  perfect  exercise  of  that  liberty  with  which  Christ 
has  made  us  free,  in  the  interpretation  of  these  ora- 
cles, can  never  be  surrendered  by  us  without  sub- 
jecting the  mind  to  the  most  intolerable  and  blight- 
ing of  all  the  forms  of  human  despotism. 

I  will  venture,  then,  to  assert,  that  the  multitude  of 
speculative  opinions  connected  with  religion,  which 
are  to  be  met  with  in  the  world,  are  not  to  be  attri- 
buted to  any  real  ambiguity  in  the  Scriptures  them- 
selves ;  but  rather  to  the  mode  in  which  the  Bible  is 
studied ;  to  the  improper  purposes  for  which  the 
Bible  is  consulted  ;  and  above  all,  to  our  disobedi- 
ence to  the  acknowledged  will  of  God,  as  the  Bible 
reveals  it. 


38  The  Saving  Truth  of  our  Religion. 

There  is  nothing  either  in  the  revelation  of  God 
or  in  the  nature  of  truth  to  occasion  disappoint- 
ment, or  to  create  contention.  But  it  is  the  impurity 
of  the  human  lieart  and  the  restless  perversity  of  the 
human  passions  which  convert  the  clear  lamp  of 
God  into  the  false  lights  which  men  pursue,  and 
turn  the  stable  foundation  of  our  immortal  hopes 
into  the  ever-shifting  quicksand,  which  continues 
the  more  to  change,  to  sink,  and  to  fail  us,  the  fur- 
ther that  we  advance  upon  it. 

The  Bible,  my  brethren,  is  an  exposition  of  certain 
truths,  which,  as  mere  matters  of  fact,  lying  beyond 
the  range  of  our  observation,  we  must  assent  to 
upon  the  Divine  authority  of  Sim  who  thus  reveals 
them.  But  along  with  this  revelation  of  facts,  the 
Bible  contains  such  practical  laws  of  holiness  as  ad- 
dress themselves  equally  to  all  classes  of  persons ; 
and,  speaking  at  once  to  the  understanding,  the 
heart,  and  the  feelings  of  every  reasonable  being, 
they  require  only  to  be  stated  in  order  to  be  under- 
stood and  appreciated. 

God  has  given  us  a  written  code  of  doctrine  and  of 
practice  as  our  guide  to  duty  on  earth,  and  thus  to 
prepare  us  for  Heaven.  To  this  code,  then,  legibly 
and  specifically  written,  must  we  continually  appeal 
and  inflexibly  adhere  in  all  of  our  religious  investiga- 
tions. The  oracles  of  God — how  read  they  ?  is  the 
only  question  we  are  at  liberty  to  propose,  and  the 
only  one  to  which  for  ourselves  we  are  bound  to  re- 
turn a  prompt,  an  open,  and  an  honest  answer,  be  our 
own  feelings,  wishes,  and  prejudices  what  they  may. 


The  Sa/ving  Truth  of  our  Religion.         39 

Now,  it  is  to  the  wide  and  manifest  neglect  of  this 
most  absolutely  important  principle  of  religious  in- 
quiry that  we  are  to  attribute  the  vast  variety  of 
discordant  systems  of  religious  faith  which  we  see 
around  us,  and  which,  under  the  name  of  Chris- 
tianity, have  imposed  themselves  upon  the  world. 

It  has  well  been  said,  that  in  the  pursuit  of  religious 
truth  men  have  not  yet  learned  to  conduct  their  studies 
with  that  dispassionate  temper,  that  sacrifice  of  an- 
ticipated inferences,  and  that  unreserved  acceptance 
of  undoubted  truth,  which  is  the  first  and  universally 
admitted  condition  in  the  investigation  of  truth  in 
outward  nature.  Until  mankind  shall  learn  to  treat 
the  REVEALED  BOOK  precisely  as  sound  philosophy  has 
found  it  necessary  to  treat  the  book  of  nature,  it  is 
impossible  that  it  should  be  otherwise  than  it  now  is. 
The  searchers  after  truth  in  religion  have  as  yet  done 
little  more  than  trace  and  re-trace,  generation  after 
generation,  the  same  course  of  mistaken  inquiry  which 
enslaved  the  human  mind  in  the  pursuit  of  general 
knowledge,  until  the  introduction  of  the  philosophy 
of  Lord  Bacon.  If,  without  a  close  analysis  of  nature 
and  a  stern  adherence  to  facts,  as  given  out  by  the 
material  world,  the  systems  of  learned  men  of  science 
would  not  now  be  precisely  what  we  know  that  they 
were  for  so  many  ages, — highly-wrought,  beautiful, 
and  plausible  theories,  but  yet  in  reality  narrow, 
baseless,  and  unprofitable  delusions, — so,  too,  all  sys- 
tems of  religious  faith  which  are  not  founded  upon 
the  certain,  clear,  broad,  and  full  teaching  of  the  in- 
spired word,  however  plausible  they  may  appear,  will 


40  The  Sa/uing  Truth  of  our  Religion. 

still  be  as  unsubstantial  as  the  exploded  systems  of 
the  schoolmen.  What  the  material  universe  is  to  the 
student  of  nature,  the  Bible  is  to  the  student  in 
religion.  It  is  a  magazine  of  truths,  from  the  faith- 
ful, cautious,  and  full  induction  of  which  all  sound 
knowledge  must  be  deduced.  Here  I  would  that 
you  should  most  carefully  observe  that  it  is  not  enough 
that  SOME  TRUTHS  are  taken  from  this  sacred  repository 
as  the  basis  of  our  faith,  because  everybody  knows 
that  partial  truth  is  oftentimes  equivalent  to  absolute 
falsehood. 

Nothing  was  so  fatal  to  the  philosophy  of  the 
olden  time  as  partial  induction  ;  and  so,  too,  nothing 
has  been  so  injurious  to  the  cause  of  Christian 
truth  in  our  own  days,  as  the  assumption  of  isolated 
TEXTS  of  Sceiptuee  for  complete  truth  from  God. 
It  was  not  that  the  philosophers  before  the  days  of 
Lord  Bacon  did  not  consult  nature  for  facts ;  but 
the  mischief  was,  that  every  speculative  mind  would 
begin  by  looking  around  for  the  sect  or  school  of 
science  with  which  to  unite  himself;  and  then  he 
would  search  the  book  of  nature,  for  facts  to  support 
the  favorite  views  of  his  own  school.  Precisely  so 
has  it  ever  been  with  religion.  The  various  denom- 
inations of  Christians  have  each  read  the  book  of 
God ;  and  each  of  them  have  found,  as  they  sup- 
posed, enough  to  justify  them  in  holding  their  own 
peculiar  views.  They  have  so  found  it,  because  they 
have  read  the  Scriptures  to  measure  ihemi  by  their 
preconceived  theories^  and  not  to  measure  their 
theories  by  the  teaching  of  the  Scriptures.    If  every 


The  Saving  Truth  of  our  Religion.         41 

disjointed  text  wliicli  may  be  found  in  the  Scrip- 
tures is  to  be  presumed  to  convey  a  complete  truth 
in  itself,  then  there  is  no  absurdity  which  may  not 
be  supported  by  the  Bible.  And  the  wonder  is  not 
that  we  have  so  many  sects  in  Christendom,  but 
the  greatest  wonder  is  that  they  have  not  been  in- 
creased ten-fold. 

In  the  incident  connected  with  the  text,  Pilate  had 
inquired  of  Jesus  whether  He  pretended  to  be  a 
King.  Our  Lord,  without  replying  directly  to  the 
question,  proceeds  to  remark,  with  calm  and  solemn 
dignity,  "  To  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose came  I  into  the  world,  that  I  should  bear  wit- 
ness unto  the  truth."  And  what  did  He  mean  by 
this  ?  Did  he  mean,  as  the  pagan  judge  may  have 
supposed,  some  new  notion  in  philosophy  ?  Did 
He  mean,  as  fallible  men  in  after-time  would  gladly 
have  us  to  suppose,  that  the  truth  to  which  the  Di- 
vine Jesus  was  come  to  bear  His  testimony  in  the 
agony  of  a  cruel  death,  and  in  the  triumph  of  a 
glorious  resurrection,  was  the  certainty  and  neces- 
sity of  their  own  narrow,  peculiar,  and  exclusive 
views  of  heavenly  doctrine  ? 

Did  He  mean  to  say,  that  the  Truth  for  which  He 
had  been  born,  and  which  He  would  establish  by  His 
death,  was  inseparably  associated  with  the  supreme 
dominion  of  one  of  His  followers  at  Kome  ?  That  it 
was  to  be  identified  with  the  impossible  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation,  or  with  the  more  revolting,  and, 
if  anything  can  be  so,  the  more  impossible  teaching, 
that  w^ithout  any  regard  to  their  works,  the  larger 


42  The  Saving  Truth  of  our  Religion. 

portion  of  mankind  were  from  all  eternity  condemned 
to  everlasting  torment? 

My  brethren,  was  it,  think  you,  for  any  one,  or 
for  all  of  those  shades  of  difference  in  religious  opinion, 
about  which  vain  and  captious  men  have  contended 
so  bitterly,  that  the  Divine  Redeemer  came  to  this 
earth,  to  water  it  with  His  tears,  and  to  stain  it  with 
his  blood  ?  Or  was  it,  more  likely,  that  He,  the  Di- 
vine One,  by  the  truth  of  which  He  spake,  had  a  di- 
rect and  simple  reference  to  the  grand,  the  pure,  and 
the  sublime  doctrines  of  that  religion  which  was  of 
God,  which  was  inseparably  associated  with  His  life 
and  with  His  death,  and  which  through  His  testimo- 
ny would  become  the  universal  religion  of  mankind, 
in  opposition  to  the  blasphemous  absurdities  of  Pa- 
ganism ?  The  TKUTH  of  which  He  spake  was  the  ex- 
istence of  ONE  God,  the  intelligent  Father  and  Ruler 
of  all :  One  Redeemer  from  the  consequences  of 
human  folly  and  crime,  and  who  should  forever  be 
the  "  ONE  Mediator  between  God  and  man  : "  One 
Spirit  of  God,  forever  working  in  the  hearts  of  mor- 
tals, and  thus  persuading  them  to  holiness,  and  stim- 
ulating them  to  charity.  Yea,  the  great  and  over- 
wdielraing  truth  which  He  came  to  bring  to  the  clear 
light  of  human  comprehension,  from  the  darkness, 
obscurity,  and  doubt  in  which  it  then  slumbered,  was 
the  all-glorious,  all-consoling,  all-controlling  doctrine 
of  human  immortality  :  the  doctrine  of  an  univer- 
sal resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  of  an  exact  distri- 
bution of  rewards  and  punishments,  according  to  the 
deeds  done  in  the  body.     Yea,  it  was  the  solemn  and 


The  Saving  Truth  of  our  Religion.         43 

startling  truth  that  "  the  hour  cometh  m  which  all 
who  are  in  tlieir  graves  shall  hear  His  voice  and  shall 
come  forth  ;  they  that  have  done  good  unto  the  res- 
urrection of  life,  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto 
the  resurrection  of  damnation." 

Yea,  my  brethren,  who  is  there  that  does  not 
feel  with  me  how  completely,  before  the  contempla- 
tion of  such  awful  truths,  all  the  points  and  shades 
between  contending  Christians  (created  by  ignorance, 
continued  by  craft,  and  stamped  by  passion)  sink 
into  the  most  contemptuous  insignificance  ? 

"  To  this  end  was  I  born,  and  for  this  cause  came 
I  into  the  world,  to  bear  witness  unto  the  truth.  Every 
one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth  my  words."  Every 
one !  And  what  are  we  to  understand  by  that  ? 
What  else  can  we  understand  by  it,  than  that  every 
meek  and  earnest-hearted  lover  of  truth  ;  every  one 
who  in  true  humility  of  spirit  is  ready  to  be  made 
wiser  and  better ;  every  one  whose  heart  is  attuned 
to  welcome  tidings  of  celestial  purity  and  immortal 
peace  ;  every  one  who,  putting  away  from  him  the 
pride  of  understanding,  the  fascinations  of  passion, 
and  the  warpings  of  prejudice,  is  content  to  be  guided 
as  a  little  child  through  the  darkness  and  the  tangled 
ways  of  earth,  to  the  light,  purity,  and  peace  of 
Heaven  ?  It  is  thus  that  every  one  who  is  of  the 
truth  heareth  the  words  of  the  God  of  Truth. 

My  brethren,  we  have  here  instruction  of  inesti- 
mable value  to  every  religious  inquirer.  We  are 
taught  that  not  only  must  our  purpose  be  good  in 
entering   upon  such  an  inquiry,    but  also  that  our 


44         The  Sa/oing  Truth  of  our  Religion. 

hearts  must  be  disciplined,  purified,  and  prepared 
for  the  reception  of  the  teachings  of  Heaven.  Not 
only  must  you  pray  to  the  Father  of  Light,  that  He 
would  open  the  eyes  of  your  understanding,  but 
more  especially  should  we  pray  that  our  hearts  may 
be  delivered  from  the  cold  insensibility  of  a  worldly 
life.  We  must  earnestly  pray,  and  hope,  and  strive, 
that  some  true  sympathy  may  be  awakened  between 
us  and  the  object  of  our  search ;  so  that  if  we  are 
permitted  to  find  it,  we  may  embrace  it  with  fondness 
and  with  gratitude.  For  nothing  is  more  certain,  than 
that  a  veil  of  most  impenetrable  obscurity  is  thrown 
over  the  understanding  of  a  man  whose  heart  is  not 
attuned  to  sympathy  with  the  great  truths  wliicli  the 
Scriptures  teach.  The  lovers  of  this  earth's  power 
and  renown  will  lend  a  willing  ear  to  him  who  ex- 
patiates on  the  pleasures  of  knowledge,  and  the 
enjoyments  to  be  purchased  by  wealth,  and  secured 
by  authority.  But  should  you,  with  an  angel's 
tongue,  unfold  the  glories  of  an  angel's  dwelling- 
place,  they  will  hear  you  with  impatience,  and 
quickly  prove  what  an  enemy  to  Scriptural  knowl- 
edge is  an  heart  incrusted  with  the  selfishness  and 
tlie  cares  of  time.  The  Scriptures  never  afibrd  their 
truth  to  the  man  who  examines  them  only  to  find 
support  for  his  own  opinions.  His  labor  is  sure  to 
be  fruitless,  because  liis  purpose  is  evil.  He  meets 
with  darkness  in  the  daytime,  and  gropes  in  the 
noontide  as  in  the  night.  But  with  the  man  of  true 
humility  of  heart,  the  purpose  with  which  he 
searches,  and  the  reward  of  his  labor,  is  far  difterent. 


The  Sa/oing  Truth  of  our  Religion.  45 

He  is  "  of  the  truth,"  He  proceeds  humbly,  because 
he  truly  desires  to  be  informed.  With  the  purpose 
of  true  wisdom  he  proceeds,  simply  because  he 
desires  to  be  made  wiser  and  better.  He  has  no  end 
to  answer  but  that  he  may  know  the  truth,  and  find 
peace  in  heaven ;  and  the  best  commentary  upon 
his  reading  will  be  his  own  heart. 

The  conclusion  is,  that  if  we  would  get  truth  from 
the  Scriptures,  we  must  read  them  for  the  single  pur- 
pose for  which  they  have  been  given  to  us ;  and  we 
may  rest  assured  that  if  we  come  to  their  examina- 
tion from  any  other  motive,  then  no  acuteness  of  in- 
tellect, however  rare,  no  learning,  however  deep,  no 
information,  however  varied  or  extensive,  can  pre- 
vent you  from  being  outstripped  in  your  pursuit  by 
men  of  far  meaner  capacity,  but  stimulated  and 
enlightened  by  purer  intention. 

It  is  so,  then,  that  if  we  would  secure  those  fruits 
of  truth  which  the  Scriptures  were  designed  to  yield 
us,  our  purpose  in  searching  them  must  be  honest 
and  earnest ;  and  our  hearts  must  be  disposed  and 
prepared  for  their  reception.  But  this  is  not  all ; 
there  is  still  another  requisite,  which  is,  as  it  were, 
the  very  key  to  truth.  It  is  this,  that  our  obedience 
must  go  hand  in  hand,  and  step  by  step,  with  our  ad- 
vancement in  Scriptural  knowledge.  Without  prac- 
tising according  to  what  we  know,  our  knowledge  is 
worthless,  and  more  will  not  be  given  to  us.  The 
sacred  writings  abound  with  examples  of  the  neces- 
sity of  holiness  of  heart  and  life,  in  order  that  we 
may  know  the  will  of  God.     "  If  any  man,"  said  the 


46  The  Saving  Truth  of  our  Religion. 

Saviour,  "  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know  of  the  doc- 
trine, whether  it  be  of  God."—"  What  is  truth  ? " 
asked  Pilate,  but  neither  his  purpose  in  asking,  nor 
the  purity  of  his  heart,  nor  the  holiness  of  his  life 
merited  any  reply.  And  precisely  in  the  condition 
of  Pilate  must  stand  every  unworthy  inquirer  after 
religious  truth,  to  the  end  of  time.  If  we  keep  not 
God's  commandments,  we  are  not  to  expect  that  He 
will  manifest  Himself  unto  us.  If  we  feel  a  dark- 
ness of  understanding  in  reading  the  Scriptures,  it 
becomes  us  to  inquire  in  what  particular  it  is  that 
our  lives  are  not  as  they  should  be.  If  we  are  ever 
disposed  to  murmur  because  the  truth  does  not 
burst  upon  us  with  the  same  cheering  brilliancy  as 
it  seems  to  come  to  some  other  men,  let  us  pause 
and  inquire  at  our  own  hearts  whether  we  have  not 
already  as  much  knowledge  as  our  practice  equals. 
And,  ah !  my  beloved  brethren,  how  solemnly  is 
this  necessity  for  holiness  of  life,  in  order  that  we 
may  know  the  will  of  our  God,  impressed  upon  us 
by  the  testimony  which  Jesus  has  given,  to  that  most 
awful,  most  important,  most  certain  of  all  truths, 
that  "  the  hour  cometh  when  all  who  are  in  their 
graves  shall  come  forth."  That  God  has  appointed 
a  day  in  the  which  He  shall  judge  the  world  in 
righteousness.  "  That  we  must  all  appear  before  the 
judgment-seat  of  Christ;  that  every  one  may  re- 
ceive the  things  done  in  his  body,  according  to  that 
he  hath  done,  whether  it  be  good  or  bad  "  (2  Cor. 
V.  10).  This  is  for  us  the  truth  of  all  truths.  It  is 
that  which  He  taught  in  His  life ;    sealed  by  His 


The  Saving  Truth  of  our  Religion.  4Y 

death,  and  confirmed  by  His  resurrection.  It  is 
that  which  stamps  responsibility  upon  all  that  we 
have,  all  that  we  think,  and  upon  all  that  we  do. 
It  is  that,  at  the  thought  of  which  all  the  splendors 
of  earth — the  pride  of  genius  and  learning — the 
dignity  of  power — the  brilliant  achievements  of  the 
sword,  and  the  luxury  of  wealth,  lose  their  fascina- 
tions, because  they  are  associated  with  the  recol- 
lection of  the  fearful  responsibility  under  which  they 
are  held.  It  is  that  which  enables  us  to  see  and 
feel,  with  a  vividness  which  nothing  else  can  do, 
that  wrong-doing  is  infinitely  the  most  fearful  of  all 
things. 

My  brethren,  let  us  hourly  live  and  act  under  a 
calm  and  steady  conviction,  that  if  we  would  be 
happy  with  the  wise  and  the  good  of  all  time,  under 
the  smiles  of  God,  we  must  prepare  for  it  by  doing  the 
will  of  God  here.  There  can  be  no  concord  between 
a  depraved  and  bad  heart  and  that  world  of  pu- 
rity. 

It  has  been  my  aim  and  object  to  show  you,  that 
to  the  pure  in  heart,  the  meek  in  temper,  and  the 
blameless  in  life,  the  will  of  God  will  always  be 
made  known.  IS.0  human  being  who  cherishes  a  fear 
of  his  God,  and  then  humbly  sets  himself  to  use  the 
means  which  that  God  has  given  to  train  his  immor- 
tal spirit  for  its  high  destiny,  need  for  one  moment 
fear  but  that  he  will  arrive  at  all  the  truth  which  it  is 
essential  that  he  should  know.  If  it  were  possible 
for  one  sincerely  honest  and  humble,  man  to  err 
fatally  in  this,  the  most  unutterably  important  of 


48         Tlie  Saving  Truth  of  our  Religion. 

all  possible  things,  then  it  would  be  equally  possible 
for  ALL  MEN  to  err  without  remedy.  If  I  could 
believe  that,  Christianity,  instead  of  being  as  it  is,  a 
message  of  celestial  love,  would  at  once  become  a 
cause  of  unutterable  apprehension  and  dismay. 

It  is  always  wrong  to  speak  of  the  exclusiveness 
and  the  singleness  of  truth — to  say  that  there  can 
be  but  one  right  and  one  wrong.  This  abstraction, 
this  power  of  seeing  and  holding  truth  in  its  abso- 
lute simplicity,  belongs  only  to  the  Deity,  and  never 
to  us  erring  mortals,  who  are  permitted  "  to  know 
only  in  part."  The  truth,  sufficient,  sanctifying,  and 
saving,  may  be  held  along  with  a  great  mixture  of 
error.  Oh  !  that  mankind  would  but  remember 
this  ;  what  rivers  of  -blood  would  it  not  have  saved 
in  times  past !  What  rancorous  bitterness  would 
it  not  now  dissipate  !  What  foul  stains  would  it 
not  blot  from  the  escutcheon  of  our  faith  !  What 
disgraceful  obstacles  to  the  progress  of  Christian 
truth  would  it  not  remove  ! 

Come,  then,  my  beloved  brethren,  and  let  us  re- 
solve that  we  will  always  cultivate  the  most  ardent, 
single-hearted,  and  enlightened  zeal  for  truth  ;  but 
never — no,  never,  let  us  forget  that  error  may  not  be 
damning  crime,  and  that  as  hateful  as  heresy  may 
be,  yet  that  the  worst  of  all  heresies  is  a  bad  and 
brutal  heart  and  an  uncharitable  tongue.  The  lead- 
ing, practical,  saving  truths  of  our  religion,  those 
which  most  affect  the  heart  and  control  the  life, 
are  written  for  us  in  characters  of  burning  light. 
As  well  might  we  complain  of  darkness  in  the  blaze 


The  Saving  Truth  of  our  Religion.         49 

of  noonday,  as  of  the  want  of  evidence  as  to  what 
we  are  to  believe  and  do  in  order  to  salvation.  That 
we  may  go  on  from  truth  to  truth,  and  from  grace  to 
grace,  let  us  strive  to  keep  steadily  before  us  the  eye 
of  Him  who  is  Himself"  the  Way,  and  the  Truth,  and 
the  Life,"  and  without  whom  we  "  can  do  nothing." 
Can  we  not  fancy  even  now  that  we  see  Hhn^  "  the 
Mighty  One^''  surrounded  by  our  own  loved  spirits 
of  glory,  all  bending  towards  us  from  their  seats  of 
bliss,  while  with  one  hand  they  point  us  to  the  dark 
page  on  the  book  of  life  on  which  our  crimes  and 
deficiencies  are  written,  while  with  the  other  they 
show  us  the  fountain  which  has  been  opened  for  all 
sin  and  uncleanness,  and  by  which  every  mark  and 
stain  can  be  washed  from  the  book  of  God's  remem- 
brance ?  Is  there  an  eye  undimmed,  while  in  fancy  it 
gazes  upon  the  sight  ?  Is  there  a  heart  that  does 
not  throb  with  anxiety  to  follow  in  life  where  the 
Saviour  calls,  so  that  in  death  it  may  be  covered 
with  the  mantle  of  the  Saviour's  love  % 


CHRIST  OUR   REFUGE. 

And  a  man  shall  he  as  an  hiding-place  from  the  wind,  and  a 
covert  from  the  tempest;  as  rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place;  as  the 
shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land." 

Isaiah  32d,  2d. 


pIm  MiM 


HIS  imagery  of  the  Prophet  is  derived  from 
the  peculiar  circumstances  of  Eastern 
life.  In  comparing  the  blessings  of  the 
Messiah's  benignant  reign  to  a  place  of 
refuge,  and  covering  from  the  perils  of  a  terrific 
tempest,  his  illustrations  are  drawn  from  the  vast 
deserts  of  Arabia,  upon  which,  when  the  whirlwind 
lights  in  its  fury,  the  sun  is  darkened  by  the  clouds 
of  fiery  dust  that  it  raises ;  and  which,  as  an  over- 
whelming tide,  rolls  on  its  sweeping  and  resistless 
billows  ;  while  pilgrims  and  caravans,  proud  kings 
and  armed  hosts,  disappear  before  it;  leaving 
neither  trace  of  their  mighty  pomp,  nor  footprint 
of  their  march,  to  tell  where  they  so  ingloriously 
perished. 

In  the  text,  the  traveller  is  represented  as  shudder- 
ing before  the  terror  of  the  rising  storm ;  and  as 
fleeing  anxiously  for  an  hiding-place  to  some  strong 
rock ;    which  in  the  midst  of  the  far-stretching  deso- 


Christ  our  Refuge.  51 

lation  raises  high  its  black  summit,  to  part  and  throw 
back  the  rushing  torrent  of  sand. 

Nor  is  the  whirlwind's  fury  the  only  danger  to 
which  the  pilgrim  is  exposed  in  his  passage  through 
that  wilderness  of  life.  The  glassy  and  burning  sur- 
face of  the  desert  may  lie  before  him,  without  a 
zephyr  to  fan  the  dust,  and  without  a  cloud  to  dim 
the  dazzling  fervor  of  the  brazen  heavens,  while 
the  sun  sheds  fiercely  down  the  intolerable  glare  of 
day.  But  no  iron  frame  could  long  withstand  this 
melting  heat,  or  the  exhausting  fatigue  of  his  weary 
way  ;  and  while  his  soul  faileth  within  him  for  thirst, 
he  is  almost  ready  to  sink  down  and  die.  How 
exhilarating  at  such  a  moment  is  the  sight  of  some 
rocky  hill,  throwing  its  cool  and  grateful  shade  far 
across  the  plain  !  His  languid  limbs  are  nerved  with 
new  vigor ;  his  fainting  heart  breathes  more  freely, 
and  with  what  eager  gladness  does  he  press  towards 
the  place  of  promised  rest  and  relief !  How  sweet  to 
his  ear  is  the  first  sound  of  murmuring  waters,  to- 
wards which  he  rushes  to  bathe  his  burning  brow 
and  satisfy  his  feverish  thirst. 

Such,  my  brethren,  is  the  emblem.  The  reality  is 
the  Christian's  passage  through  the  wilderness  of  sin, 
and  Christ  is  the  hiding-place  from  danger. 

The  man  Christ  Jesus,  in  the  splendor  of  oriental 
and  prophetic  diction,  is  the  sheltering  covert ;  the 
rock  of  refreshing  shade,  provided  by  Almighty  Pro- 
vidence for  the  Christian  pilgrim,  in  his  passage 
through  the  wilderness  of  life ;  in  whom,  if  he  will 
but  understand  and  use  his  privilege  of  access,  he 


62  Christ  our  Refuge. 

will  find  abundant  security  and  refreshment,  under 
all  of  the  fierce  storms  and  exhausting  toils  to 
which  he  can  ever  be  exposed. 

I  shall  first,  my  brethren,  draw  your  attention  to 
the  "Man  Christ  Jesus,"  as  the  believer's  security 
amid  all  the  storms  of  earthly  agitation  and  bereave- 
ment. My  brethren,  we  have  not  now  to  learn  that 
this  world  is  a  restless  and  troubled  scene ;  that  its 
skies  are  not  always  blue,  its  lights  always  bright, 
its  winds  always  balmy,  nor  its  waters  always 
smooth  ;  but  that  it  is  a  scene  of  ceaseless  change, 
and  oftentimes  of  tempestuous  and  frightful  agitation. 
Swift  as  the  winds  of  the  desert,  and  oftentimes  as 
fierce  as  they,  do  the  elements  of  moral  convulsion 
break  loose  upon  the  earth,  and  stir  up  the  wide  ex- 
panse of  society  into  uproar  and  confusion.  Not 
only  on  the  broad  theatre  of  public  affairs,  but  in 
the  narrow  corner  of  every  private  heart,  there  is 
constant  agitation.  Beneath  the  calmest  aspect, 
troubles  are  brewing  and  brooding,  and  amid  the 
most  smiling  scenes  of  prosperity,  trials,  deep,  agoniz- 
ing, and  desolating,  are  preparing  for  us.  We  know 
that  when  the  sun  is  brightest,  the  elements  are  often 
only  gathering  strength  for  the  tempest ;  and  so,  too, 
while  smiles  play  upon  the  cheek,  and  gayety  sparkles 
in  the  eye,  it  is  too  often  only  as  the  lightning,  which 
flashes  to  dazzle  for  a  moment,  and  then  leaves  the 
gloom  which  overshadows  the  spirit  deeper  and 
darker  than  before.  It  is  as  if  the  momentary  sun- 
shine of  the  soul  had  warmed  into  new  life  and 
rigor  the  hidden  canker-worm  of  the  heart,  which 


Christ  OUT  Refuge.  53 

is  to  prey  upon  its  peace,  and  turn  all  things  there 
into  dreariness,  decay,  desolation,  and  death. 

Yes,  my  brethren,  there  may  be  much  in  the  aspect 
of  the  world's  history,  and  much  in  the  prospect 
which  spreads  before  our  own  most  anxious  hopes, 
that,  to  earthly  reason  and  earthly  feeling,  is  troub- 
lous and  alarming.  There  may  be  much  that  is  so 
dark  and  threatening,  so  tempestuous  and  discourag- 
ing, that  we  are  ready  to  lift  up  our  weary  and  heavy 
hearts  in  the  prayer  of  the  Psalmist :  "  Oh  !  that  I 
had  the  wings  of  a  dove,  for  then  would  I  flee  away 
and  be  at  rest !  "  Ah  !  know  you  not,  my  brethren, 
that  the  wings  of  the  Heavenly  Dove  are  actually 
provided  for  you  ?  That,  upborne  upon  the  wings 
of  faith,  guided  and  sustained  by  God's  Holy  Spirit, 
you  can  flee  to  the  Redeemer's  footstool  and  be  at  rest. 
You  can  there  be  relieved  of  all  your  solicitude,  save 
the  grateful  solicitude  worthily  to  adore  untiring  Good- 
ness. You  may  "  throw  all  your  care  upon  Him,  for 
He  careth  for  you."  You  may  repose  confidingly  on 
His  covenant  faithfulness.  His  unerring  wisdom,  and 
exhaustless  love.  Thus  staying  yourself  on  Him,  you 
will  be  kept  in  a  frame  so  tranquil,  and  a  peace  so 
stable,  that  the  firmest  objects  in  creation  can  only  by 
contrast  shadow  forth  its  stability.  "  For  the  moun- 
tains shall  depart,  and  the  hills  be  removed,  but  my 
kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee,  neither  shall  the 
covenant  of  my  peace  be  removed,  saith  the  Lord  that 
hath  mercy  on  thee." 

Come,  then,  my  brethren,  and  let  us  flee  away  upon 
the  wings  of  faith  to  the  Redeemer's  gracious  pres- 


64  Christ  our  Refuge. 

ence  ;  and  there  we  shall  learn  that  we  are  all  under 
the  guidance  of  a  better  wisdom  than  our  own,  and 
that  all  things  are  working  together  for  the  most  glo- 
rious and  the  most  desirable  ends.  Ay,  my  brethren, 
we  may  there  obtain  a  iirm  and  steady  hold  of  the 
cheering  truth,  that  all  things  are  ordered  by  Him  who 
holds  the  supremacy  for  the  truest  and  most  perma- 
nent good  of  each  individual  soul  that  loves  Him. 

Who,  now,  is  there  that  can  know  these  things, 
without  deriving  from  the  recollection  the  strongest 
assurance  of  security  and  comfort  amid  the  darkest 
aspects,  and  wildest  and  most  terrific  agitations  of 
sublunary  things?  Who  is  there  that  can  know 
these  things,  and  yet  not  possess  his  soul  in  patience 
and  peace  ? 

My  brethren,  the  revealed  name  of  our  Saviour 
God  is  indeed  to  us  a  "  strong  tower ;  the  righteous 
runneth  into  it,  and  is  safe."  On  the  power,  wis- 
dom, and  faithfulness  of  our  exalted  Saviour  the  spir- 
its of  the  faithful  may  repose,  as  in  a  serene  and  un- 
troubled sanctuary.  What  though,  amid  the  dark 
storms  of  the  desert,  some  temporal  hopes  are  blight- 
ed ;  yet  are  all  the  rich  hopes  of  eternity  promoted, 
brightened,  and  secured  by  the  purifying  commo- 
tions of  external  circumstances.  And  well  may  the 
Christian  believer  look  to  the  all-ruling  Son  of  Man 
as  his  hiding-place  from  the  wind,  and  his  covert 
from  the  tempest,  when  he  has  been  assured  of  His 
pledged  and  covenanted  friendship.  How  well  and 
how  calmly  may  he  flee  to  Him  amid  the  most  ap- 
palling storms  of  Providence,  and  in  every  season  of 


Christ  our  Refuge.  55 

danger  and  convulsion  exclaim  with  the  Psalmist, 
"  Therefore  in  the  shadow  of  Thy  wings  will  I  make 
my  refuge  until  this  calamity  be  overpast." 

This  brings  me  to  another,  and  far  more  important 
sense  in  which  the  "  Man  Christ  Jesus  "  is  the  source 
of  the  sinner's  security. 

My  brethren,  the  "  Man  Christ  Jesus  "  is  the  be- 
liever's security  against  the  storm  of  the  Divine  dis- 
pleasure. And  tell  me  what  image — what  emblem — 
shall  rightly  represent  all  that  the  wrath  of  Omnipo- 
tence implies,  when  it  is  spoken  of  as  being  let  loose 
upon  the  soul  ?  What  image  of  whirlwind  and  of 
storm  can  be  too  strong  to  represent  such  a  vengeance 
as  is  described  in  the  literal  statements  of  God's  infal- 
lible word  ?  This  tempest,  this  horrible  tempest,  as  it 
is  called,  is  fast  approaching  for  the  unrepenting  and 
the  unfaithful.  It  is  coming  upon  the  never-resting, 
ever-hasting  wing  of  time.  Turn  ye,  then,  turn  ye 
to  the  Stronghold,  to  the  Rock  of  Refuge — to  Christ, 
the  hiding-place.  For  towering  high  above  the  storm 
shall  the  Rock  of  Ages  stand — even  Jesus,  who  deliv- 
ereth  from  the  wrath  to  come  ;  the  predicted  "hiding- 
place  from  the  wind,"  and  the  promised  "  covert  from 
the  tempest."  My  brethren,  if  there  be  any  truth  in 
the  delineation  of  God's  spirit,  the  day  is  coming 
when  the  retributions  of  God  will  fall  upon  the  earth, 
and  His  long-suspended  wrath  shall  sweep  its  pollu- 
ted lands  with  a  burning  surge.  And  shall  we, 
although  so  constantly  warned  and  warmly  entreated, 
shall  we  continue  to  linger  without  the  walls  of  sal- 
vation— without  the  city  of  refuge — until  the  gates 


56  Christ  our  Refuge. 

of  entrance  be  closed  against  us  forever  ?  Shall  we 
continue  to  loiter,  with  stupid  infatuation,  upon  the 
narrow  isthmus  that  is  left  to  us,  from  the  steadily  en- 
croaching ocean  of  eternity,  until  its  dark  waves  break 
with  overwhelming  fury  at  our  feet,  and  the  ark  of 
safety  which  we  have  refused  to  enter  shall  then  be  far, 
ay,  far  and  hopelessly  beyond  our  reach  ?  God  for- 
bid that  we  should  be  content  thus  to  continue,  while 
the  tempest  thickens  and  the  peril  is  hourly  drawing 
nearer  and  nearer.  Let  us  rather  flee  while  we  can 
to  the  sanctuary  of  the  Saviour's  mediation,  and  to 
the  covert  of  the  Saviour's  protection.  To  believe 
and  obey  the  Gospel  is  thus  to  turn  and  flee.  To 
receive  the  offered  Saviour  for  your  own,  with  an 
humble  submission  of  mind  and  heart,  this  is  to  en- 
ter the  hiding-place,  this  is  to  pass  under  the  covert, 
this  is  to  repose  under  the  rock  of  safety  and  unfail- 
ing refreshment. 

Be  persuaded,  my  brethren,  thus  to  turn  and  flee; 
for  the  invitation  is  free.  Be  persuaded  to  obey  with- 
out hesitation  or  delay,  for  the  time  is  alarmingly  short. 

Why  do  you  hesitate?  After  what  do  you  search  ? 
Of  what  do  you  fear  we  may  deprive  you  ?  Is  your 
soul  athirst  for  happiness  ?  Is  it  for  enjoyment  that 
you  seek  ?  And  do  you  fear  that  we  shall  rob  you 
of  the  fugitive  raptures  of  the  world  ? 

We  grant  you,  that  the  soul's  deepest,  most  insa- 
tiable, and  most  incurable  thirst  is  for  happiness.  It 
is  for  satisfaction  and  repose  that  it  pants  with  an 
ardor  that  is  painful  and  absorbing;  and  after 
which  it  cries  with  a  voice  that  is  never  silent.     It  is 


Christ  our  Refuge.  57 

for  this  that  it  eagerly  explores  all  the  vast  range 
which  is  opened  before  it  of  sense,  imagination,  in- 
tellect, and  affection.  But  amid  the  harvest  of  light 
and  joy  with  which  God  crowns  the  industry  and 
prudence  of  His  creatures,  there  is  still  a  felicity  of 
ampler  reach  and  loftier  value — a  chief  good  of 
which  the  soul  always  feels  the  need,  and  for  which 
the  world,  and  all  its  forms,  is  vain  and  unsatisfac- 
tory. 

What  the  soul  demands  is  an  enjoyment  that  shall 
leave  us  nothing  to  want,  and  nothing  to  fear  from 
deprivation  or  decay  ;  which  shall  prove  itself  to  be 
THAT  for  which  man  is  made ;  suited  to  his  nature, 
adequate  to  his  capacities,  and  commensurate  with 
his  being.  It  is  for  this  that  all  have  sought ;  and 
it  is  precisely  this  that  all  have  missed.  It  is  for 
this  that  sages  have  toiled,  with  all  the  powers  of 
sublime  comprehension  and  subtle  analysis.  It  is 
for  this  that  sensualists  have  ransacked  the  fields  of 
vision,  and  exhausted  the  powers  of  sense.  It  is  for 
this  that  the  wisest  of  men  and  the  most  powerful 
of  kings — the  man  whose  conception  extended  far 
beyond  the  reach  of  other  mortals,  and  whose  abi- 
lity to  test  and  try  was  as  boundless  as  his  heart 
was  restless  to  devise  and  to  desire — who  had  only 
to  wish,  and  it  was  so — who  had  only  to  open  his 
hand,  and  pleasures  dropped  into  it — who  satisfied 
his  grasping  intellect  in  boundless  fields  of  know- 
ledge ;  and  satiated  his  senses  with  every  variety  of 
sensual  joy — who  put  trouble  and  darkness  far  from 
him — clothed  himself  in  brightness,  surrounded  him- 

3* 


68  Christ  our  Refuge. 

self  with  melody,  and  then  sought  to  repose  amid 
perfumes  and  beauty,  that  his  dreams  might  be  only 
of  gladness.  But  he  awoke  to  sickness  of  heart ;  for 
his  flowers  were  faded,  and  their  sweetness  passed 
away.  The  voices  of  his  minstrels  were  silent  in 
death.  The  heavens  were  clouded  in  frowns.  The 
earth  was  wet  with  the  dewy  tears  of  sorrow  ;  and  as 
his  spirit  sunk  within  him,  he  pronounced  it  all  to  be 
"  vanity."  Yea,  he  has  left  this  testimony  to  all 
succeeding  ages,  inscribed  upon  the  imperishable 
pages  of  truth,  that  "  all  is  vanity  !  " 

That  man  was  permitted  to  make  his  wide  and 
vast  experiment,  that  all  generations  might  know 
how  hopeless  is  his  labor  who  takes  the  world  for 
his  confidence  and  his  portion;  who  seeks  only  here 
for  what  is  to  fill  "  the  aching  void,"  for  the  "  rivei-s 
of  water  "  to  satisfy  his  undying  thirst.  Give  to  him 
all  the  world  has  to  offer,  but  the  "  void"  is  still  there, 
and  he  is  thirsty  still.  Give  to  the  man  who  is  gasp- 
ing for  life,  under  the  burning  fever  that  is  drying  up 
the  fountain  of  the  heart,  all  of  the  glittering  gems 
and  jewels  of  the  East,  or  the  massy  gold  from  the 
miser's  hoarded  heap,  and  will  you  meet  his  wants? 
Alas!  alas!  will  he  not  bid  you  "away  with  your  idle 
mockery  ? "  Will  he  not  tell  you  that  the  silver  and  the 
sumptuous  fare  will  little  avail  him  now ;  that  he 
will  gladly  exchange  them  all  for  medicine  to  heal 
his  sickness  ?  So,  too,  is  it  with  the  man  who  has 
already  realized  all  of  good  which  the  world  has  to 
offer  him ;  but  yet,  how  often  does  the  morning 
light  awaken  him  from  the  trance  of  feverish  pain, 


Christ  our  Refuge.  59 

or  to  encounter  anew  the  overwhelming  pressure  of 
despondency ;  and  he  perceives  that  the  current  of  life  is 
ebbing  slowly  away,  and  that  the  grave  is  opening 
before  him,  without  ever  being  able  to  put  to  repose 
the  ever-restless  and  most  anxious  craving  of  the 
heart.  He  sees  that  the  world's  fairest  promises  are 
no  more  than  a  cheating  mockery.  They  are  as 
false  as  the  illusion  which  oftentimes,  in  the  East- 
ern deserts,  turns  the  reflection  of  the  glowing  sand 
into  the  likeness  of  a  bright  and  breezy  lake,  to  which 
the  weary  traveller  hastens  with  hurried  and  feeble 
footsteps  only  to  experience  a  keener  disappoint- 
ment, and  to  encounter  new  and  unlooked-for  suf- 
fering. 

Ah  !  who  is  there  that  does  not  know  that  to  seek 
for  the  soul's  supreme  felicity  in  this  barren  and 
fading  world  is  to  search  for  water  in  dry  places  that 
yield  none.  It  is  wilfully  to  forsake  the  fountain  of 
living  waters,  and  to  pursue  the  desert's  cheating 
visions  ;  or  it  is  to  exasperate  and  not  to  relieve  your 
thirst  at  its  unsatisfjang,  and  oftentimes  bitter  pools. 
Then,  when  disease  or  age  have  left  you  nothing  to 
enjoy,  in  the  hour  of  crushing  sorrow,  or  in  the  stupor 
of  despair,  to  sink  unaided,  unconsoled,  unsheltered 
and  untaught,  into  the  dark,  deep,  and  shoreless  gulf 
of  oblivion  ! 

Oh  !  turn,  my  brethren,  at  the  voice  of  Jesus,  which, 
in  the  far-sounding  and  attractive  call,  invites  all 
"  who  thirst  to  come  unto  Him  and  drink."  Thus  it 
is  that  I  have  now  come  to  point  you  to  where  the 
happiness  you  have  so  long  and  so  eagerly  sought  is 


60  Christ  our  Refuge. 

surely  to  be  found.  T  point  you  to  a  portion  that  is 
full  and  forever  satisfying,  because  it  is  infinite.  The 
"  INFINITE  "  and  unchanging  is  what  we  want,  in  op- 
position to  the  finite,  the  mortal,  and  the  fading.  I, 
then,  will  guide  you  to  a  spring  of  living  water,  of 
which  he  who  drinks  will  never  thirst  again.  My 
brethren,  this  portion  and  this  happiness  is  to  be  found 
in  the  favok  of  the  God  of  the  soul.  This  favor  is 
to  be  won  through  the  believing  acceptance  of  the 
Saviour.  Here  is  the  fulness  of  repose  for  a  soul  that 
has  found  the  object  of  its  search.  To  repose  now 
upon  the  blessed  hope,  and  hereafter  upon  the  glad 
inheritance  of  immortal  life.  The  foretaste  now,  and 
at  length  the  perfection  of  enduring  felicity.  And 
what,  my  brethren,  can  you  conceive  better  calculated 
to  be  a  well-spring  of  rich  and  overflowing  consola- 
tion and  comfort  to  the  heart,  than  to  know  that,, 
prompted  by  infinite  love.  Infinite  Wisdom  has  un- 
dertaken to  guide  and  supportus  ?  that  Infinite  Power 
is  engaged  to  defend  us,  and  that  all  infinite  attributes 
are  pledged  to  be  with  us  eternally  ?  What  is  the 
condition  of  perplexity  or  peril,  of  prosperity  or  of 
threatening  ruin,  in  which  this  conviction  does  not 
contain  resources  of  abundant  and  overflowing  con- 
solation ? — the  conviction,  my  brethren,  that  through 
all  the  horrors  of  the  gloomy  wilderness  through  which 
we  must  pass,  Jehovah's  rod  and  staff  will  point  out 
the  way, — there  will  be  for  us  a  "  pillar  of  cloud  by 
day,"  and  a  "  pillar  of  fire  by  night," — that,  finally,  with 
God's  right  hand  around  us,  we  shall  pass  forever  from 
this  realm  of  darkness  into  that  of  unclouded  and  un- 


Christ  our  Refuge.  61 

sullied  liorht.  "We  shall  enter  on  a  world  where  the 
SHADOW  OF  DEATH  hath  never  fallen — which,  through 
all  of  its  immeasurable  regions,  contains  no  valley  of 
tears  !  where  the  variety  in  its  scenery  is  a  variety 
of  bliss,  and  where,  guarded  by  the  tenderest  and 
mightiest  of  friends,  we  shall  pass  forever  onward, 
through  richer  and  richer  fields,  watered  by  brighter 
and  more  sparkling  streams,  and  redolent  of  sweeter 
flowers ;  perceiving,  as  we  advance,  that  the  immor- 
tal landscape  is  perpetually  waxing  more  refulgent 
and  more  fair.  We  shall  feel  that  our  spirits,  in  pass- 
ing from  joy  to  joy,  are  translated  from  one  region  of 
our  heavenly  home  to  another,  more  exalted  and  more 
ecstatic  still.  Our  happiness  shall  be  that  we  have 
ETERNAL  LIFE,  and  that  Ikfinity  is  before  us  to  engage 
our  powers  and  absorb  our  love. 

I  have  thus,  in  explaining  and  illustrating  the  sense 
of  the  prophet,  endeavored  to  show  you  that  his  al- 
lusion in  the  text  is  to  the  Man  Christ  Jesus,  and 
that  Christ  is  most  emphatically  the  believer's  hiding- 
place  and  rock  of  refuge, — his  unfailing  source  of 
security  and  defence  against  all  the  depressing  trou- 
bles and  disastrous  commotions  of  time.  Still  more 
is  He  our  refuge  and  strength  against  the  coming 
storm  of  righteous  and  eternal  anger.  Not  only  is 
He  our  hiding-place  and  covert,  but,  as  sparkling  riv- 
ulets of  water  are  to  the  faint  and  failing  traveller  in 
the  parched  desert,  and  as  the  cool  shade  of  a  great 
rock  is  to  the  weary  pilgrim  when  ready  to  sink 
down  and  die  under  the  burning  glare  and  dissolv- 
ing heat  of  Eastern  skies,  so  too  is  the  Man  Christ 


62 


Christ  our  Refuge. 


Jesus,  in  the  ennobling  principles  and  the  boundless 
and  immortal  hopes  with  which  He  inspires  us,  our 
all-sufficient  and  unfailing  source  of  tranquil  joj,  for- 
ever and  forever ! 

To  Him,  my  brethren,  be  persuaded  to  come,  if 
you  would  enkindle  in  the  immortal  mind  the  lamp 
of  life  and  happiness,  a  lamp  that,  amid  all  the  sweep- 
ing tempests  to  which  we  may  be  exposed,  will  still 
burn  on  unextinguished  ; — which  even  the  dull  and 
deadly  breath  of  the  last  enemy  shall  not  be  able  to 
quench ;  which,  while  we  are  passing  through  the 
shadow  of  death,  shall  suddenly  leap  out  into  an  ef- 
fulgence far  brighter  than  the  sun,  and  then  enable 
us  to  begin  our  celestial  and  interminable  progress 
of  holiness  and  joy  towards  the  still  inaccessible 
Source  of  all  bliss  and  all  glory. 


mm^^m^^^MtimMmm: 

B^g^^.^P^^PH 

JUSTIFICATION  BY  FAITH. 


"  What  doth  it  profit^  my  brethren^  though  a  man  say  he  hath 
faith,  and  have  not  works  ?     Can  faith  save  Jiim  /  " 

James  'id,  14th. 

IHE  apparent  discrepancy  between  the 
teaching  of  the  Apostle  Paul  and  St. 
James  in  refei'ence  to  the  influence  of 
religious  faith  upon  human  salvation, 
has  been  the  occasion  of  much  perplexity  to  Chris- 
tian minds.  But  as  "  all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspi- 
ration of  God,"  and  as  He  is  a  God  of  unchangeable 
truth,  it  is  evident  that  the  difficulty  of  reconciling 
apparent  differences  arises  from  our  own  want  of 
attention  to  the  differing  and  distinct  objects  of  the 
respective  writers,  and  to  the  peculiar  connections 
in  which  their  language  is  used,  rather  than  to  any 
possible  want  of  agreement  and  consistency  in  the 
divine  teaching. 

The  doctrine  of  "  justification  by  faith  only  "  is 
taught  too  positively  and  distinctly  by  St.  Paul,  to 
be  either  misunderstood  or  resisted  by  the  most  su- 
perficial reader.  My  brethren,  it  is  the  doctrine  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  it  is  therefore  the  doctrine  of 
your  Church.     But  then  the  faith  upon  which  the 


64  Justification  by  Faith. 

Scriptures  and  your  Church  equally  insist,  for  your 
present  justification  and  your  eternal  safety,  is  an 
intelligent  and  productive  faith.  It  is  no  idle 
gibberish  nor  senseless  profession  of  the  lips.  The 
word  is  used  to  denote  the  living  graces  of  the  Chris- 
tian character,  and  the  rich  virtues  of  the  Christian 
life.  Now  nothing  could  possibly  have  been  further 
from  the  purpose  of  St,  James  than  to  resist  or  con- 
fiite  this  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.  His  clear  object 
was  to  strengthen  and  sustain  it,  by  freeing  it  from 
the  perversion  and  abuse  to  which  impure  minds 
had  subjected  it.  That  this  was  his  object,  and  that 
the  two  Apostles  were  entirely  harmonious  and  con- 
sistent with  themselves  and  with  each  other,  will 
appear  by  the  slightest  reference  to  the  general 
design  of  the  writers,  and  the  class  of  persons 
to  whom  their  respective  epistles  are  addressed.  St. 
Paul  is  writing  to  Jewish  converts,  who,  from  the 
narrow  prejudices  in  which  they  had  been  educated, 
were  almost  irresistibly  disposed  to  attach  a  most  ex- 
travagant and  saving  efficacy  to  the  merely  mechani- 
cal observance  of  the  Mosaic  ritual.  It  was  difficult 
to  persuade  them  that  oblations  and  animal  sacrifices 
were  no  longer  required;  and  still  more  difiicult  was 
it  to  impress  them  with  a  conviction  of  their  inability 
to  render  themselves  entirely  acceptable  to  God  by 
their  own  unaided  and  imperfect  compliance  with  the 
requirements  of  the  moral  law.  St.  Paul,  then,  was 
contending  against  this  prejudice  of  the  times,  and 
the  sect,  and  he  labored  to  show  them  how  impossi- 
ble it  was  for  any  man  to  be  justified  and  delivered 


Justification  hy  Faith.  65 

from  the  consequences  of  sin  by  an  unmeaning  ob- 
servance of  the  ceremonial  law  ; — that  it  was  impos- 
sible for  the  blood  of  animals,  when  shed  without  re- 
gard to  the  thing  it  was  designed  to  signify,  ever  to 
take  away  sin.  He  contended,  with  an  irresistible 
power  of  argument  and  illustration,  that  all  of  these 
ordinances  were  but  the  types  and  shadows  of  other 
and  far  higher  things  ;  that  they  were  useful  only 
as  they  were  observed  in  faith,  and  as  they  served  to 
keep  alive  the  sense  of  religious  obligation  to  sustain 
a  devout  confidence  in  the  high  promises  of  God. 
The  shadow,  he  contends,  was  no  longer  useful  when 
tlie  substance  had  been  received.  The  sign  was  no 
longer  to  be  used,  when  the  thing  signified  had  been 
obtained.  The  instrument  was  no  longer  to  be  em- 
ployed, when  the  end  for  which  it  had  been  appointed 
had  been  answered.  If,  then,  they  could  no  longer 
expect  justification  and  acceptance  on  account  of 
an  idle  observance  of  rites  and  ceremonies,  which 
had  ceased  to  be  either  wise  or  useful,  so  neither 
could  they  rest  their  hopes  of  salvation  on  their 
meritorious  observance  of  God's  moral  law,  as  deliv- 
ered from  Sinai.  The  requisition  of  that  law  was 
nothing  short  of  universal  holiness — but  holiness  in 
motive  and  in  action,  in  thought,  word,  and  deed,  is  per- 
fection, and  perfection  is  manifestly  impossible  for  an 
imperfect  creature.  "  Sin  is  any  transgression,"  or  any 
falling  short "  of  the  law,"  and  the  certain  "  punishment 
of  sin  is  death."  How  delusive  and  how  fatal,  therefore, 
are  any  hopes  of  salvation  which  are  rested  only  on  their 
own  merits !  But,  says  the  eloquent  Apostle,  in  the  tri- 


Q6  Justification  by  Faith. 

amph  of  enlightened  faith,  "  Where  sin  abounds,  there 
doth  grace  much  more  abound,"  and  "  Thanks  be  to  God 
who  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,"  He  then  goes  on  to  prove  that  the  only  founda- 
tion on  which  the  world  can  ever  rest  for  etern  al  safety  is 
on  their  faith  in  the  sufficiency  of  Christ's  righteousness 
as  "  the  propitiation,  oblation,  and  satisfaction  for  the 
sins  of  the  whole  world."  And  that  the  sincerity  of 
such  a  faith  was  always  to  be  attested  by  the  meek- 
ness with  which  it  led  its  votaries  to  persevere,  with 
a  caution  that  never  slumbered  and  a  zeal  that  never 
relaxed,  in  the  straight  and  narrow  way  of  holy  liv- 
ing— such  was  the  simple  and  direct  object  of  St. 
Paul.  St.  James,  on  the  contrary,  was  directing  his 
pointed  and  withering  rebuke  against  the  blighting 
heresy  of  supposing  that  a  profession  of  belief  in  the 
divine  mission  of  Christ  was  inevitably  to  secure  them 
eternal  safety,  without  any  consideration  or  care  for  the 
fruits  of  the  Christian  life.  The  infinite  peril  of  cher- 
ishing this  blasphemous  and  revolting  persuasion  he 
portrays  in  the  most  fearful  colors.  St.  James  is  by 
no  means  denying  what  St.  Paul  had  taught — that 
we  are  all  and  only  to  be  saved  by  faith  in  the  right- 
eousness and  atonement  of  Christ — but  he  goes  on  to 
contend  against  a  ruinous  perversion  and  abuse  of  that 
sacred  truth.  He  insists,  too,  as  St.  Paul  had  insisted, 
that  the  sincerity  of  a  Christian  faith  is  only  to  be 
tested  and  proved  by  its  ever-increasing  anxiety  to 
walk  in  the  paths  of  purity  and  holiness,  and  thus  to 
fulfil  all  righteousness.  The  very  name  of  faith  im- 
plies obedience  to  the  beautiful  law  of  holiness  and 


Justification  hy  Faith.  6T 

truth  which  Christ  came  to  obey  and  fulfil.  "  As," 
says  he,  "  the  body  without  the  spirit  is  dead,  so  faith 
without  works  is  dead  also."  It  does  not  exist,  and 
it  is  worse  than  folly  to  talk  about  it.  '*  What  doth 
it  profit  though  a  man  say  he  hath  faith,  and  have 
not  works  ? "  Can  a  faith  that  is  only  talked  of  save 
him  ?  "  If  a  brother  or  a  sister  be  naked,  or  destitute 
of  daily  food,  and  one  of  you  say  unto  them,  '  Depart 
in  peace — be  ye  warmed  and  filled,'  notwithstanding 
thou  givest  them  not  the  things  that  are  needful  to 
the  body,  what  doth  it  profit  ?  " 

What  a  cruel  insult  is  your  hollow  courtesy  to  the 
destitute  and  shivering  petitioner  for  your  bounty ! 
And  is  it  less  a  mockery,  think  you,  to  insult  the 
majesty  of  God  by  an  idle  talk  of  faith,  without  any 
pretension  to  obedience?  The  faith  of  which  St. 
Paul  speaks,  and  for  which  St.  James  contends, 
"  works  always  by  love,  and  purifies  the  heart." 
"  By  their  fruits,^''  says  the  blessed  Saviour,  "  ye 
shall  know  them." 

I  think,  my  brethren,  I  have  said  enough  to  sat- 
isfy you  of  the  true  intention  and  meaning  of  the 
two  Apostles  of  Jesus,  and  that  there  is  no  discrep- 
ancy between  them.  But  let  me  here  beg  you  to  ob- 
serve that  the  term  justification,  as  used  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, has  two  very  dififerent  senses  applied  to  it.  A 
sinner  is  said  to  be  justified  before  God,  when  he  is 
reconciled  and  accounted  righteous  by  his  Creator. 
This  is  the  sense  in  which  the  term  is  used  by  St. 
Paul,  and  is,  indeed,  its  general  acceptation.  But  it  is 
sometimes  used  in  another  sense,  and  is  made  to  sig- 


68  Justification  hy  Faith. 

nifj  the  vindication  of  a  person's  character  in  the 
eve  and  the  judgment  of  men.  (Dent.  xxv.  1 ;  Job 
xxxii.  32.)  Now,  it  is  quite  evident  that  St.  Paul  is 
speaking  of  justification  in  the  former  of  these 
senses,  and  St.  James  in  the  latter.  St.  Paul  is 
speaking  of  the  justification  of  the  sinner's  person  ; 
St.  James,  of  the  justification  of  his  faith  and  reli- 
gious character.  St.  Paul  was  laboring  to  show  how 
a  guilty  and  condemned  sinner  might  yet  be  account- 
ed righteous,  and  rejoice  in  the  gladdening  smile  of 
a  reconciled  Father.  He  speaks  of  mankind  as  hav- 
ing destroyed  themselves  by  rebellion  and  crime ;  as 
being  speechless  under  the  irresistible  evidence  by 
which  they  are  "  brought  in  guilty  before  God  " 
(Kom.  iii.  19) ;  as  having  "  all  sinned,"  and  as  being 
utterly  unable  by  all  they  can  do  to  reconcile  them- 
selves to  God,  for  to  the  last  they  will  be  no  more  than 
unprofitable  servants  :  they  will  be  deficient  and  still 
guilty,  and  still  condemned.  If,  then,  they  can  never 
of  themselves  stand  before  the  throne  of  a  righteous 
God  as  righteous  and  justified  mortals,  then  must 
they  consent  to  seek  for  their  justification  in  some 
other  way.  And  he  faithfully  and  earnestly  points 
them  to  the  only  way  of  acceptance  with  God: 
"Even  through  the  righteousness  of  God  which 
is  by  FAITH  IN  Jesus  Christ."  All  have  sinned, 
but  all  may  be  "justified  freely  by  His  grace, 
through  the  redemption  that  is  by  Christ  Jesus." 
(Eom.  iii.  24.)  St.  Paul  is  thus  teaching  the 
way  of  salvation,  through  the  righteousness  and 
atonement  of  Christ.     St.  James,  on  the  contrary, 


Justification  hy  Faith.  69 

is  sternly  rebuking  the  injurious  and  Antinomian 
professions  of  unsanctified  and  disobedient  men.  He 
declares  that  the  faith  which  is  to  save  us  must  stand 
forth  to  the  eye  of  men  justified  and  approved  by 
its  manifest  results,  by  its  meekness  and  its  abounding 
fruits.  It  is  no  empty  and  speculative  assent  to  spec- 
ulative truth,  but  rather  a  deep  and  subduing  con- 
viction of  the  head  and  the  heart,  which  leads  to 
the  most  anxious  diligence  to  enrich  and  adorn  the 
character  with  the  practical  and  ennobling  virtues  of 
Heaven.  The  profession  of  faith  without  the  spir- 
itual energy  that  leads  its  possessor  to  press  on  after 
purity  and  righteousness,  to  hunger  and  thirst  for 
them  with  the  avidity  of  one  who  knows  that  he  will 
perish  unless  he  attains  them — the  profession,  I  say, 
without  the  heartfelt  affection  which  leads  surely  and 
inevitably  to  active  obedience,  is  an  abomination.  It 
is  a  solemn  mockery  to  the  eye  of  Heaven,  and  must 
aggravate  the  sinner's  condemnation.  It  is  no  bet- 
ter than  the  statue  chiselled  from  the  marble,  and 
sculptured  into  symmetry  and  fair  proportions  by  the 
accuracy  of  genius  and  the  deceptiveness  of  art,  but 
in  which  the  soul  is  wanting.  It  is  cold,  motionless, 
and  speechless,  without  life,  and  without  power  to 
proclaim,  with  the  resistless  eloquence  of  its  example, 
the  purity  and  excellence  of  Heaven-descended  truth. 
My  brethren,  let  me  conjure  you,  then,  to  cherish  the 
doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith  in  the  righteousness  and 
atonement  of  Christ  as  lying  at  the  foundation  of 
yom'  religion,  as  being  the  very  diamond  pivot  upon 
which  turns  the  entire  system  of  the  gospel :  it  is  the 


70  Justification  hy  Faith. 

very  mainspring  of  active  and  stirring  piety.  But 
fancy  not  that  this  principle,  which  when  received 
and  sustained  in  its  purity  must  propel  to  purity  in 
practice ;  fancy  not  that  it  is  taught  by  St.  Paul  so  as 
to  be  justly  liable  to  Antinomian  perversion  and 
abuse.  When  not  teaching  abstractly  the  plan  of 
human  salvation,  not  even  St.  James  himself  is  more 
urgent  and  clear  in  insisting  upon  good  works  as  being 
the  only  evidence  of  the  sincerity  of  the  Christian's 
faith,  as  being  indispensable  for  the  justification  of 
HIS  PROFESSION.  My  brethren,  tm'n  to  the  Epistles  of 
St.  Paul,  and  open  them  where  you  may  ;  how  full 
and  how  rich  do  you  find  him  in  his  representations 
of  the  necessity  of  holiness,  as  being  the  very  high- 
est end  and  object  of  our  election  and  redemption. 
"  God,"  says  he,  "  has  chosen  us  in  Christ,  that  we 
should  be  holy  and  without  blame  before  Him  in 
love."  He  exliorts  us  to  "  give  all  diligence  to  make 
our  calling  and  election  sure."  He  tells  us  that 
"  without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord,"  and 
that  "  Jesus  came  to  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity, 
and  to  purify  unto  Himself  a  peculiar  people,  zealous 
of  good  works."  (Titus  ii.  14.)  He  tells  us,  too, 
that  "  Jesus  became  the  author  of  eternal  salvation  to 
all  them  that  obey  him."  We  thus  see,  my  brethren, 
that  Christian  faith  is  the  fountain  from  which  the 
streams  of  goodness  must  flow  to  make  glad  the  city 
of  our  God.  Good  works,  you  will  observe,  are  not 
thefountain,  but  they  are  the  streams  which  tell  us 
that  the  fountain  is  there.  They  are  not  the  founda- 
tion upon  which  we  can  rest  our  eternal  hopes,  but 


Justification  hy  Faith.  71 

they  are  the  rich  superstructure  which  tells  us  with 
irresistible  power  that  the  foundation  which  supports 
the  temple  of  holiness  is  laid  fast  and  firm  in  Christ 
Jesus.  Faith  is  the  tree  of  righteousness,  planted  by 
the  Lord's  own  spirit  in  the  heart ;  and  good  works 
are  the  blossoms  and  fruits  of  holiness  that  grow 
upon  it.  Faith  is  the  principle  by  which  our  mo- 
tives of  religious  actions  will  be  tested;  and  good 
WORKS  are  the  witnesses  by  whose  testimony  we  shall 
stand  or  fall,  in  that  awful  day  when  the  Lord  Jesus 
shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  His  mighty 
angels,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  not  God, 
and  that  obey  not  the  gospel  of  His  Son. 

I  say  not,  you  will  observe,  my  brethren,  that  any 
good  works  which  we  can  do  will  purchase  exemp- 
tion for  us  from  condemnation,  in  that  tremendous 
hour  of  trial ;  but  I  do  say,  that  good  works  are  in- 
dispensably necessary  in  order  to  make  manifest  our 
possession  of  that  saving  interest  in  Christ  Jesus 
which  secures  for  us  the  blessings  of  the  redeemed. 

The  sinner  is  justified  before  God  by  his  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  then  the  measure  of  his  reward 
will  be  just  in  proportion  to  the  weight  of  testimony 
which  shall  be  given  in  favor  of  the  purity  and  sin- 
cerity of  his  faith  by  his  witnessing  works.  This  view 
of  the  subject  will  at  once  make  plain  to  your  under- 
standings not  only  the  apparent  difference  between 
St.  Paul  and  St.  James,  but  also  the  seeming  contra- 
diction in  different  passages  of  St.  Paul's  own  epis- 
tles. "We  are  justified  by  faith,  but  yet  shall  every 
one  of  us  receive  hereafter  according  to  the  things 


72  Justification  hy  Faith. 

done  in  the  body,  whether  they  have  been  good  or 
evil.  What  doth  it  profit,  brethren,  for  a  man  to 
say  he  hath  faith,  while  he  hath  not  the  works  by 
which  alone  our  Lord  hath  told  us  that  we  are  to  show 
forth  our  faith  to  the  eye  of  the  world,  or  repose  upon 
its  saving  efficacy  for  the  peace  of  our  own  con- 
sciences. What  profit  is  it,  though  a  man  say  he 
hath  faith,  and  hath  not  works ;  can  his  saying  he 
hath  faith  save  him  ?  Such  is  the  meanino-  of  our 
text. 

My  brethren,  it  is  a  consideration  which  ought  to 
be  deeply  engraven  upon  every  thinking  heart,  that 
the  motive  must  consecrate  the  action.  Deeds,  there- 
fore, that  are  wrought  without  any  regard  for  the  will 
or  the  law  of  Jesus,  can  never  purchase  for  us  an  in- 
terest in  the  atonement  of  Jesus.  Works  which  are 
wrought  without  any  consideration  for  the  Almighty 
Lawgiver,  and  even  while  rebellion  is  nourished  in 
the  heart,  and  withering  scorn  is  uttered  by  the  lips; 
such  works,  although  they  may  appear  beautiful  to 
men,  are  yet  nothing  worth  in  the  eye  of  Him  who 
"  seeth  not  as  man  seeth."  They  will  purchase  no  re- 
ward from  the  offended  majesty  and  withering  frown 
of  the  King  of  Glory, 

Alas !  alas  !  my  brethren,  I  can  fancy  that  I  even 
now  see  the  shame  and  everlasting  contempt  that 
is  depicted  in  the  aspect  of  the  proud  assertor  of  his 
own  righteousness,  when  he  shall  feel  the  arm  that 
he  stretches  forth  towards  "  the  crown  of  unfading 
glory  "  withered  and  paralyzed  by  the  grasp  of  Satan, 
who  claims  him  for  his  own,  and  exults  in  having  se- 


Justification  hy  Faith.  73 

duced  him  from  the  shelter  of  a  Saviour's  atoning 
blood,  and  led  him,  in  his  own  mad  and  rebellious 
pride,  to  exalt  himself  on  the  frail  and  ruinous  ped- 
estal of  his  own  self-righteousness.  And  now,  may 
the  thought  of  this  dreadful  fate  touch  and  subdue 
our  hearts,  and  lead  us  to  rest  our  hope  of  acceptance 
more  completely  and  anxiously  upon  the  justifying 
blood  of  our  Kedeemer.  And  then,  while  the  spirit 
of  God  pours  its  melting  consolations  into  our  hearts, 
and  beareth  witness  with  our  spirits,  that  we  are  the 
children  of  God,  so,  too,  let  our  constant  walk  in 
righteousness  and  true  holiness  give  meek  evidence 
to  the  world  and  to  our  own  consciences  that  we  are 
sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption.  That  day,  my 
brethren,  when  He  in  whom  we  have  believed  shall 
come  in  His  own  glory,  and  the  Father's  glory  with 
Him,  and  while  the  guilt-stained  universe  trembles 
and  melts  away,  we  shall  hear  His  own  gentle  voice 
declaring  in  sweetest  accents, "  The  Lord  knoweth 
them  that  are  His,"  and  behold  "  I  have  caused  thine 
iniquity  to  pass  away  from  thee."  And  then  attend- 
ant angels  shall  hasten  to  enrobe  us  in  His  own 
spotless  vesture  of  righteousness,  and  amid  the  tri- 
umphant hallelujahs  of  seraphs  we  shall  be  welcomed 
to  the  "joy  of  our  Lord." 


THE  REVEALED  REQUIREMENTS   OF  THE 
CREATOR. 

"  And  what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  hut   to  do  justly,  to 
love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ?  " 

Micah  6th,  8tk. 

|]Sr  the  striking  and  eloquent  chapter  from 
which  these  words  are  taken,  the  God 
of  Israel  is  represented  as  calling  upon 
the  extremities  of  the  earth,  from  the 
top  of  its  everlasting  hills  to  the  depth  of  its  strong 
foundations,  to  bear  witness  to  the  ingratitude  and 
rebellion  of  his  people.  The  Israelites  are  then  rep- 
resented as  crying  out  in  the  wildest  alarm  before 
the  indignation  they  had  provoked,  and  praying  to 
be  guided  to  the  means  of  appeasing  His  righteous 
anger.  Should  they  come  before  Him  with  sacrifices 
and  oblations ;  would  thousands  of  rams  or  ten 
thousands  of  rivers  of  oil  be  accepted  by  Him  ?  Or 
should  they  pour  out  the  blood  of  their  children,  whom 
they  loved  as  their  own  souls,  as  an  atonement  for 
their  sins?  These  absurd  and  abominable  sugges- 
tions represent  most  forcibly  the  eifect  of  ignorant 
and  superstitious  terror  upon  the  sinner's  conscience. 
And  how  impious,  how    frivolous,  and  how  cruel 


The  Hevealcd  Requirements  of  the  Creator.    75 

have  its  devices  ever  been  to  secure  the  favor  of  the 
Deity,  without  faith,  penitence,  and  purity  !  The 
reply  of  the  Creator  to  these  monstrous  and  impossible 
propositions  of  the  terror-stricken  soul  is  given  in 
the  simple  and  impressive  words  of  the  text :  "  He 
hath  showed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good ;  and  what 
doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  to 
love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ?  " 

This  beautiful  text  is  sometimes  misunderstood, 
and  men  are  led  by  it  to  argue  against  the  importance 
of  doctrines  of  faith  and  the  positive  institutions  of 
religion.  Why  is  it,  they  ask,  that  the  peculiarity  of 
our  faith  and  the  forms  of  religion  are  so  strictly 
insisted  on,  when  we  find  it  expressly  written,  that 
the  Lord  requires  nothing  more  of  us  than  that  our 
lives  should  be  marked  with  justice  and  benevolence 
to  man,  and  an  humble  reverence  to  our  Maker? 
The  dangerous  fallacy  of  this  reasoning  will  at  once 
appear,  when  you  consider  how  absurd  it  would  be 
to  suppose  that  the  sacred  prophets  of  God  would 
be  engaged  in  depreciating  and  destroying  the  very 
institutions  which  God  Himself  had  established. 
In  all  those  instances,  therefore,  in  which  the  vanity 
of  ceremonial  observances  is  pointed  out,  and  the 
necessity  of  moral  duties  insisted  on,  you  are  to 
understand  the  sacred  teachers  as  laboring  to  free 
the  positive  institutions  of  God  from  the  abuse  to 
which  the  ignorant  superstitions  of  men  have  subject- 
ed them.  You  nowhere  find  prophets  teaching  the 
people  that  the  ceremonies  of  the  law  were  not  to 
be  observed ;  but  with  solemn  earnestness  they  con- 


76     The  Revealed  Requirements  of  the  Creator. 

stantly  admonish  them  of  the  awful  danger  and  folly 
of  mistaking  the  shadow  for  the  reality ;  the  sign  for 
the  thing  signified ;  the  means  and  instruments  ap- 
pointed by  God  to  lead  to  holy  things  for  holiness 
itself.  "When  therefore  it  is  said,  that  God  requires 
nothing  more  from  us  than  the  practice  of  the  moral 
virtues,  they  speak  truly,  but  yet  comparatively. 
For  while  the  love  and  practice  of  those  virtues  is 
the  end  and  object  of  all  the  discipline  to  which  God 
subjects  us  in  this  life,  yet  no  man  is  at  liberty  to 
rebel  against  that  discipline  which  God  in  His  in- 
finite wisdom  has  contrived  and  positively  appointed 
for  our  advancement  in  holiness.  "  He  hath  showed 
thee,  O  man,  what  is  good."  Where  hath  He  showed 
it  ?  In  the  sacred  writings,  surely ;  and  upon  their 
general  teachings,  then,  must  we  rely,  as  to  what  we 
are  to  believe  and  to  do.  And  although  the  final 
cause,  the  end  of  all  their  training,  the  sum  and 
substance  of  their  teaching,  may  be  to  bring  us  to  do 
justly,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  our 
God ;  yet  surely  we  are  not  permitted  to  refuse  to 
pass  through  the  steps,  or  to  despise  the  means,  by 
which  God,  who  knows  our  hearts,  would  gradually 
train  and  prepare  us  for  this  perfection  of  virtue. 

Of  a  character  similar  to  our  text,  and,  like  it,  liable 
to  misconception  and  abuse,  are  those  well-known 
words  of  St.  James:  "Pure  religion  and  undefiled 
before  God  and  the  Father  is  this,  to  visit  the  father- 
less and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to  keep  him- 
self unspotted  from  the  world."  Will  any  sound 
mind  argue  from  this  that  we  are  at  liberty  to  throw 


The  Repealed  Requirements  of  the  Creator.    77 

aside  all  the  other  teaching  of  God,  as  to  what  may 
be  implied  in  the  term  religion  ;  and  resolve  that  we 
will  believe  nothing  and  do  nothing  but  jnst  what 
this  isolated  verse  points  out  ?  The  idea  is  too  absurd 
to  be  refuted.  "We  perceive  at  once,  that  tlie  Apostle 
did  not  mean  to  give  us  articles  of  faith,  or  to  lay 
down  a  code  of  morals  ;  and,  in  short,  meant  nothing 
more  than  to  affirm  that  personal  purity  of  character 
and  active  benevolence  of  life  were  leading;  duties 
of  the  religion  of  Heaven. 

But  to  return  to  our  text.  "  "What  doth  the  Lord 
require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  to  love  mercy,  and  to 
walk  humbly  with  thy  God  ?  "  Now,  although  a  nar- 
row and  partial  conception  of  these  words  may  serve 
to  flatter  the  indolent,  the  selfish,  and  the  worldly, 
in  their  neglect  of  religious  doctrine  and  ordinances, 
yet,  when  fully  and  fairly  considered  and  explained, 
I  want  no  other  nor  better  foundation  for  everything 
essential  to  salvation.  We  are  to  do  justly.  A 
wide,  elevated,  fearful  requirement.  I  ask  you  not 
to  remember  that  it  embraces  what  is  due  to  God, 
as  well  as  what  we  owe  to  man.  I  am  willing  that 
you  should  consider  it  in  the  restricted  sense  in  which 
it  is  commonly  received  among  us,  and  still  it  implies 
a  vast  and  wide-spreading  responsibility,  a  high  and 
dignified  measure  of  virtue.  My  brethren,  it  is  a  most 
exalted  quality,  and  there  is  good  reason  to  fear  that 
it  is  too  rarely  exercised.  But  of  this  we  shall  leave 
you  to  judge,  after  we  have  explained  what  it  fairly 
and  properly  means,  and  what  He  w^ho  knows  and 
will  judge  the  heart  does  now  hourly  exact  from  it. 


78      The  R&vealed  Requirements  of  the  Creator. 

We  all  know  that  there  are  certain  violations  of 
honesty  which  the  laws  define  and  punish,  and  the 
turpitude  of  which  the  world  acknowledges.  But  I 
ask  you  to  remember  that  every  abuse  of  confidence 
is  injustice.  Every  species  of  deceit,  dissimulation, 
and  evasion,  in  the  dealings  of  man  with  man,  is 
downright  dishonesty,  and  is  oftentimes  a  serious 
aggravation  of  the  crime  of  taking  what  does  not 
belong  to  us.  The  prowling  robber,  who  creeps  from 
his  loathsome  hiding-place  under  the  curtain  of  night, 
to  take  by  chance  that  which  will  not  impoverish  or 
destroy  the  loser,  is  partial  in  the  mischief  he  creates 
in  comparison  with  him  who,  under  the  disguise  of 
integrity  and  fair-dealing,  succeeds  in  dissipating  dis- 
trust, and  then  preys  upon  the  confiding.  He  is  a 
monster,  for  whom  no  weight  of  punishment  is  too 
severe  which  universal  detestation,  derision,  and 
scorn  can  inflict.  Confidence  is  the  golden  chain 
that  links  the  great  interests  of  society  togetlier,  that 
joins  heart  to  heart,  and  thus  softens  human  man- 
ners and  sweetens  human  intercourse ;  but  he  who,  by 
dissimulation,  impairs  confidence,  is  the  most  serious 
of  the  enemies  of  human  happiness.  The  effect  of 
his  mischief  can  hardly  be  calculated.  He  clothes 
life  in  coldness  and  suspicion,  dissipates  candor,  and 
generates  selfishness ;  makes  men  timorous  and  re- 
served, chills  the  warmth  of  benevolence,  and  checks 
the  working  of  the  amiable  virtues. 

The  robber  by  night  lurks  in  secret  by  day,  or 
flies  for  his  life  from  the  frown  of  society  and  the 
sword  of  the  law.     The  abuser  of  confidence  steals 


The  Revealed  Requirements  of  the  Creator.     79 

in  the  smile  of  friendship,  and  with  the  cant  of  hon- 
esty he  carries  the  fruit  of  his  horrible  iniquity  in 
his  hands  at  noonday,  and  bids  defiance  to  detection 
and  to  punishment.  The  triumph  of  dissimulation  and 
secret  fraud  may  defy  the  light  of  time,  but  the  light 
of  eternity  is  breaking,  which  it  cannot  defy.  The 
hour  will  come,  brethren,  ay,  and  come  quickly, 
too,  when  he  who  has  been  unjust  in  small  matters 
must  stand  before  that  Judge  whom  it  will  be  impos- 
sible to  deceive,  and  who  will  read  to  the  universe 
the  recorded  history  of  our  secret  doings.  Although 
we  may  now  move  lightly  with  the  spoils  of  our 
wicked  doings  held  closely  to  our  hearts,  the  time  is 
coming  when,  without  repentance  and  prayers  for 
mercy,  they  will  lie  with  crushing  weight  upon  our 
souls. 

My  brethren,  the  possible  cases  in  which  the  laws 
of  justice  may  be  violated  are  innumerable ;  and 
however  common  certain  deviations  from  the  strict 
rule  of  right  may  be  around  us,  however  slight  the 
consequences  may  be,  and  as  gentle  as  the  names 
may  be  by  which  they  are  known  and  marked,  it  is 
still  the  same  crime.  I  would  that  he  who  boasts  of 
his  trust  to  be  rewarded  with  the  happiness  of  heaven, 
in  return  for  his  pure  and  just  deeds  on  earth,  should 
remember  that  he  deals  not  jnstly  when  he  avails 
himself  of  the  forms  of  law  to  shelter  him  in  the  vio- 
lation of  equity.  He  deals  not  justly  when,  by  any 
subtlety  of  management,  he  withholds  or  takes  from 
any  body,  whether  it  be  an  individual  or  a  society, 
the  Government  or  the  public,  anything,  be  it  more 


80     The  Revealed  Requirements  of  the  Creator. 

or  less,  which  is  fairly  their  right.  He  deals  not 
justly  when,  through  reckless  prodigality  and  ex- 
travagance, he  deprives  himself  of  the  means  of 
meeting  his  honest  engagements.  He  deals  not 
justly  w^hen  he  ascribes  to  his  goods,  either  directly, 
indirectly,  expressly,  or  by  implication,  qualities 
which  he  knows  they  have  not,  or  conceals  faults 
which  he  knows  they  have.  He  deals  not  justly 
who  borrows  upon  false  representations,  or  buys 
when  he  has  no  reasonable  prospect  of  repay- 
ing. Alas !  my  brethren,  no  Christian  can  think 
of  the  extended  requirements  of  the  virtue  without 
agitation. 

Amid  the  excitement  and  ceaseless  competition  of 
a  widely-extended  commerce,  our  situation  is  re- 
plete with  temptation,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
conscience  is  too  often  overpowered  by  cupidity,  and 
the  sense  and  shame  of  guilt  is  lost  in  the  pride  of 
acuteness  and  the  thirst  of  accumulation.  These 
dangers,  and  all  other  temptations  in  life,  can  only 
be  resisted  by  solemn  resolutions,  constant  vigilance, 
and  earnest  prayer ;  by  measuring  every  action  on 
the  scale  of  eternity,  and  by  the  controlling  help  of 
God,  fervently  and  diligently  implored.  However 
much  men  may  flatter  themselves  as  to  the  firmness 
and  consistency  of  their  uprightness,  we  admonish 
you  that  it  is  only  that  man  who  habitually  feels 
that  he  is  under  the  eye  of  Omniscience — that  his  heart 
is  read  by  God,  and  his  thoughts  registered  in  Heaven, 
who  is  influenced  by  a  steady  regard  for  the  will  of 
his  Creator  and  the  retributions  of  eternity — he  alone 


The  Revealed  Requirements  of  the  Creator.     81 

it  is  who  will  be  as  faithful  to  the  high  principles  of 
justice  in  solitude  and  secrecy,  as  in  the  midst  of  an 
assembled  universe.  He  alone  it  is  upon  whom  you 
can  safely  rely  as  one  without  guilt,  and  free  from 
unhallowed  deception,  artifice,  and  subterfuge;  and 
who  will  never  "palter  in  a  double  sense,"  although  it 
would  be  to  realize  the  wildest  dreams  of  ambition,  and 
to  induce  wealth  to  pour  its  glittering  tide  at  his  feet. 
But,  my  brethren,  it  is  not  enough  that  we  do 
justly — it  is  not  enough  that  we  neither  defraud 
nor  ofiend  in  word  or  in  deed — it  is  not  enough  even 
that  our  religious  faith  is  clear  and  settled — if  that 
religion  leaves  us  cold  and  selfish ;  if  our  feelings 
rise  within  and  return  only  upon  ourselves ;  if  we 
are  content  to  walk  in  the  narrow  and  confined  cir- 
cle of  duty,  rendering  to  all  exactly  their  due,  but 
caring  not  to  diffuse  light  and  dispense  happiness, 
and  leaving  the  track  of  our  existence,  like  a  barren 
spot  in  creation,  neither  irradiated  by  the  sunshine 
of  Christian  love,  nor  refreshed  by  the  showers  of 
heavenly  compassion.  "We  must  love  mercy.  It 
must  be  a  cherished  and  ruling  principle  of  our 
hearts.  It  is  not  enough  that  we  give  way  to  occa- 
sional and  capricious  flights  of  compassionate  feeling; 
it  is  not  enough  that  we  pour  forth  luxurious  tears 
over  artful  tales  of  romantic  distress.  We  must  re- 
member that  Christ  descended  from  the  mercy-seat, 
and  took  up  His  abode  with  man,  that  He  might 
train  the  world  to  mercy.  We  must  love  mercy  as 
the  highest  and  sweetest  attribute  of  Divinity.  "We 
must   remember   that  we  must  be   merciful;  if  we 

4* 


82     The  Revealed  Require7nents  of  the  Creator. 

would  obtain  mercy  ;  that  our  charity  for  the  wants 
and  infirmities  of  frail  humanity  must  be  no  osten- 
tatious softness  of  feeling,  but  a  deep,  strong,  and 
imperative  conviction  of  the  duty  we  owe  to  our 
God  and  to  our  race.  This  is  the  charity  that  par- 
dons, toils,  and  suffers — which  no  labor  wearies,  no 
ingratitude  disgusts,  and  no  honor  sickens ;  that 
treads  in  secret  the  paths  of  misery  which  no  man 
sees,  and  which  cares  for  no  man's  praise,  but  which, 
like  the  great  laws  of  nature's  God,  does  the  work  of 
God  in  silence,  and  looks  to  Him  for  direction  and 
reward.  My  brethren,  when  we  think  of  these 
things — when  we  think  of  the  wide-spreading  obli- 
gations which  this  law  of  mercy  imposes — when  we 
think  of  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  heart  in  which 
our  Lord  has  taught  us  to  love  and  exercise  it — and 
then  look  into  our  own  hearts,  and  perceive  their 
selfish  and  sordid  indifierence,  their  pride,  vain-glory, 
love  of  human  applause,  and  restless  thirst  for  ex- 
citement, who  will  not  tremble  lest  the  incense 
which  rises  from  our  altars  should  be  no  more  than  a 
polluted  ofi'ering  to  the  Majesty  of  heaven  ? 

The  third  and  last  requirement  of  the  text,  my 
brethren,  is,  that  we  should  "walk  humbly  with  our 
God."  Where  now  is  the  proud  and  inconsistent 
boaster  of  merit  on  the  score  of  humility  ?  I  will 
ask  you  whether  you  have  succeeded  in  tearing  up 
by  the  roots  every  emotion  of  pride  and  self-conceit 
from  your  heart  ?  Under  a  sense  of  unworthiness, 
do  you  shrink  into  nothing  in  His  awful  presence ; 
and  while  bowing  before  His  grandeur,  His  purity, 


The  Revealed  Requirements  of  the  Creator.     83 

and  the  throne  of  His  mercy,  is  every  feeling  of  ar- 
rogance, of  rancor,  of  envy,  jealousy,  and  revenge, 
subdued  ?  Do  all  human  claims  and  worldly  honors 
sink  into  insignificance?  Are  you  so  deeply  imbued 
with  the  true  spirit  of  humility,  with  love,  reverence, 
and  gratitude,  that  you  are  willing  to  submit  without 
a  murmur,  and  with  cheerful  obedience,  to  all  of  His 
dispensations,  no  matter  how  withering  may  be  His 
rebukes,  or  how  bitter  may  be  the  bereavement  ? 
Do  you  feel — as  a  child  of  frailty,  error,  and  sin, 
drinking  in  iniquity  like  water,  and  fading  before  the 
moth  born  of  the  dust,  and  kindred  of  the  grave^ 
that  your  intellectual  powers  are  feeble,  and  too  much 
confined  to  the  earth  to  penetrate  the  arena  of  hea- 
ven— that  your  love  is  best  shown  by  an  unrepining 
deference,  in  singleness  of  heart,  to  the  well-authen- 
ticated declarations  of  His  will ;  and  in  all  mys- 
terious and  perplexing  questions,  by  a  calm  and 
conscientious  selection  of  that  side  which  appears 
beset  with  the  fewest  difficulties,  and  in  which  our 
purest  moral  feelings  coincide  with  the  verdict  of  the 
intellect  %  But  if  nothing  of  this  be  true — if,  while 
talking  of  humility  to  God,  you  are  exclusively  en- 
grossed with  conscious  self-complacency,  actually 
swelled  into  imaginary  importance,  and  ready  to 
throw  out  the  most  haughty  disdain  upon  all  the 
sources  of  spiritual  instruction  with  which  God  has 
surrounded  you ;  and  so  far  from  submitting  your 
feeble  and  darkling  intellect  to  the  Divine  teach- 
ing, you  are  actually,  with  the  most  daring  presump- 
tion, picking  among  the  demonstrable  truths  of  re- 


84     TJie  Revealed  Requirements  of  the  Creator. 

ligion,  as  to  which  you  will  obey  or  reject!  Horrible 
mockery !     Dreadful  delusion  ! 

My  friends,  let  there  be  no  mistake  or  concealment 
in  this  matter.  The  indolent,  the  sensual,  the  votary 
of  this  world,  beings  who  pass  through  life  in  cold 
and  supercilious  indifference  with  regard  to  the 
most  important  of  all  questions  —  namely,  the  re- 
vealed requirements  of  the  Creator  ;  who  close  their 
eyes  upon  the  stupendous  and  elaborate  arrange- 
ments of  the  Christian  dispensation  which  are  work- 
ing around  them,  and  which  are  urged  upon  their 
attention,  not  more  by  the  most  cogent  external  tes- 
timony than  by  the  cravings  and  necessities  of  their 
own  moral  constitutions — these  men  walk  not  hum- 
bly with  their  God. 

The  conclusion,  then,  to  which  we  bring  you  is  this : 
that  those  persons,  who  through  some  loose  feeling 
of  deference  to  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures  have 
fastened  upon  some  occasional  text  as  the  sum  of 
their  faith  and  the  rule  of  their  practice,  to  the  ab- 
solute neglect  of  all  other  teaching,  are  not  only 
guilty  of  the  most  unreasonable  presumption ;  but, 
even  when  tried  by  their  own  principles,  must  inevi- 
tably be  found  wanting.  The  sweeping  requirements 
of  any  one  moral  virtue  are  infinitely  more  than  any 
one  child  of  the  dust  can  fully  meet;  and  if  we  have 
no  other  refuge  or  remedy  than  the  attainments  of 
our  own  strength,  we  must  prepare  to  brave  the 
condemnation  of  our  Judge. 

In  opposition  to  this,  the  course  to  which  we 
would  persuade  you  is  to  submit  with  a  cheerful,  un- 


The  Revealed  Requirements  of  the  Creator.     85 

doubting,  unreserved  obedience,  to  all  things  taught 
or  appointed  us  by  God.  Let  our  faith  derive  con- 
eistenc}^,  substantiality,  and  efficacy  from  our  works, 
and  let  our  works  derive  holiness  and  value  from 
our  faith;  and  thus  form  the  only  true  and  noble 
combination  of  moral  excellence:  separate  them, 
and  the  value  of  each  is  lost.  The  one  degenerates 
into  turgid  self-righteousness,  without  a  heavenly 
motive  and  without  heavenly  worth;  the  other  be- 
comes offensive  profaneness,  by  a  horrible  perversion 
of  the  sacred  promises  of  Scripture  to  purposes  of 
licentiousness.  With  anxious  and  humble  spirits, 
let  us  gratefully  avail  ourselves  of  every  ordinance 
appointed  by  God,  as  an  instrument  of  holiness ;  and 
while  we  feel  that  our  best  works,  when  measured 
by  the  eternal  standard  of  heavenly  purity,  are  sad- 
ly defective,  let  us  look  back  upon  the  "black  and 
grained  spots"  of  many  a  crime,  and  let  us  eagerly 
seek  for  safety  in  the  stupendous  atonement  that 
Christ  has  made  for  all  human  sins. 

I  would  lead  you,  my  brethren,  to  Him  who  is 
able  to  deliver  you,  alike  from  the  power  and  the 
punishment  of  sin ;  who  can  give  you  a  meetness  for 
Heaven  imparted  by  His  Spirit,  and  a  title  to  Heaven 
written  in  His  own  blood.  Yes,  I  would  lead  you  to 
fix  your  hope  of  Heaven  on  a  stable  foundation, 
that  when  the  tempest  of  God's  anger  shall  blacken 
the  earth,  the  sweeping  rain  shall  descend,  and  the 
deluge  of  fire  shall  roll  its  heavy  billows  over  every 
false  foundation,  and  every  refuge  of  lies,  that  then 
you  may  find  yourself  reposing  in  calm  safety 
upon  the  everlasting  "Kock  of  Ages." 


THE  IMPORTANCE  OF  RELIGION  TO  THE  TOUNG. 


"  I  discerned  among  the  youths  a  young  man  void  of  understand- 
ing.'''' 

Proverbs  1th,  7th. 

X  the  Scriptures,  the  terms  wisdom  and 
understanding  are  constantly  used  to 
denote  the  religion  of  God.  And  so, 
too,  where  we  read  in  the  sacred  writ- 
ings of  a  fool,  a  simple  one,  and  of  a  man  without 
understanding,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  any  im- 
perfection or  imbecility  in  the  natural  endowments 
of  the  individual  is  intended ;  but  rather  it  is  de- 
signed to  impress  us  with  the  solemn  truth,  that  the 
most  awful  perversion  of  the  high  powers  with 
which  God  has  enriched  us  is  witnessed  when  men 
wilfully  reject  the  teachings  of  their  Creator ;  when 
they  choose,  under  the  influence  of  distempered 
passions,  to  wander  amid  the  frightful  perils  of  life, 
and  riot  amid  its  brief  and  debasing  pleasures,  while 
scornfully  rejecting  the  guiding  light  and  the  en- 
nobling counsels  of  that  Celestial  Messenger  whom 
God  has  sent  to  the  earth  to  direct  their  inexpe- 
rienced steps. 

Our  text  is  taken  from  the  writings  of  Solomon, 
and  forms  a  part  of  his  recorded  experience  of  those 


Importance  of  Religion  to  the  Young.        87 

sad  delusions  under  which  men  pursue  the  phantom 
of  happiness,  over  the  treacherous  quicksands  which 
everywhere  lie  so  near  the  surface  in  this  dangerous 
ocean  of  life. 

Well  and  truly,  my  brethren,  has  it  been  said  that 
the  picture  with  which  we  are  here  presented  is  a 
most  striking  and  affecting  exhibition  of  many  a 
scene  in  real  life. 

At  the  most  interesting  and  critical  season  in  the 
span  of  human  existence,  "a  young  man  void  of  un- 
derstanding" is  brought  clearly  before  us.  At  his 
right  hand  stands  the  Genius  of  Evil,  arrayed  in  an 
angel's  garb  of  beauty,  and  with  seductive  smiles 
alluring  him  to  her  home  of  impurity.  Behind  the 
youth  I  see  in  the  distance,  but  advancing  with  sure 
and  rapid  steps,  shame,  remorse,  disease,  poverty, 
incurable  misery,  and  eternal  ruin  !  Above  him  I 
see  the  angels  and  spirits  of  the  just,  looking  dowTi 
from  their  abodes  of  light  and  bliss,  with  eyes  full 
of  the  most  anxious  concern.  On  one  side  stands 
the  Father  of  the  young  man :  his  gray  hairs  wave 
in  the  wind,  and  the  brow  which  is  thus  left  bare  I 
see  to  be  furrowed  with  care ;  while  his  bosom  heaves 
with  unutterable  anguish,  as  he  follows  the  object  of 
his  fondest  hopes  in  his  reckless  career  of  ruin.  But 
there  is  still  another  figure  in  the  picture — it  is  a 
personification  of  Faith — it  is  the  heart -stricken 
Mother  of  the  "  young  man  void  of  understanding." 
I  can  see  her  on  her  bended  knees,  with  her  stream- 
ing eyes  raised  to  heaven,  while  in  the  smothered 
and  broken  tones  of  a  grief  too  deep  for  utterance, 


88       Importance  of  Religion  to  the  Young. 

she  supplicates  the  God  of  her  hopes  that  He  would 
save  the  child  of  her  love. 

God  of  mercy !  how  little  do  the  young  know  how 
great  the  interest  is  which  they  excite  in  heaven  and 
on  earth.  How  little  do  they  consider  how  deep, 
how  very  deep,  is  the  cup  which  their  conduct  may 
fill  with  bliss,  or  else  with  bitter  wretchedness. 

My  brethren,  it  is  now  my  privilege  to  address  the 
young ;  and  here  you  will  permit  me  to  say,  once  for 
all,  that  in  speaking  of  youth  we  confine  ourselves  to 
no  particular  sex.  There  are  no  pictures  we  can 
draw,  there  are  no  truths  we  can  utter,  there  are  no 
habits  or  qualities  of  character  we  can  depict,  as  in- 
dicating a  want  of  understanding  in  youth,  which 
will  not  apply  to  the  maiden  as  well  as  to  the  man. 
Indeed,  if  the  want  of  all  religious  faith,  all  religious 
sensibility,  all  religious  principle  and  control,  be 
dreadful  in  man,  it  is  infinitely  more  revolting  and 
more  to  be  dreaded  in  woman. 

It  is  to  woman  that  the  world  is  largely  indebted 
for  the  diffusion  of  that  faith,  which,  as  the  preserv- 
ing salt  of  the  earth,  serves  to  correct  its  deeply-seat- 
ed tendency  to  corruption.  But,  alas  !  when  the  salt 
has  lost  its  savor  in  woman,  she  is  then  but  rarely  fit 
for  aught  else  than  to  be  cast  out  and  to  be  trodden  un- 
der foot  of  men,  as  a  worthless  and  a  loathsome  thing. 
Women,  my  brethren,  are  rarely  bad  by  halves.  As 
in  general  they  are  far  purer  and  better  than  men,  so 
too,  when  we  once  discover  them  to  be  bad,  they  are 
almost  sure  to  be  very  bad.  "When  once  the  re- 
straining sanctions  of  religion,  and  the  sense  of  shame 


Importance  of  Religion  to  the  Young.        89 

before  men,  have  lost  their  hold  upon  the  heart  of 
woman,  she  is  no  longer  to  be  trusted  save  as  a  mon- 
ster, hideously  and  fearfully  stained  with  iniquity. 

I  repeat  it,  then,  that  if  the  "  want  of  understand- 
ing," in  the  high  sense  in  which  the  Scriptures  use  that 
phrase,  is  to  be  deplored  in  man,  then  more,  and  far 
more,  is  it  to  be  deplored,  as  the  most  serious  of  all 
evils,  in  woman. 

I  will  now  go  on  to  say,  that  the  first  mark  of  a 
want  of  understanding  in  youth,  is  to  be  discovered 
in  their  lending  a  listening  ear  to  the  sneers  and  spe- 
cious objections  of  the  base  and  the  blasphemous  of 
the  earth,  as  to  the  truth  of  the  religion  of  their  fa- 
thers. My  young  friends,  let  me  conjure  you  to  re- 
member that  the  great  and  the  good  of  the  earth 
have  not  been  persons  likely  to  be  deceived  by  "  cun- 
ningly-devised fables."  They  have  reposed  their 
clear  and  unwavering  trust  in  the  revelation  of  their 
Creator's  will,  because  they  saw  that  it  contained 
truths  of  eternal  importance  ;  because  it  was  that  by 
which  alone  they  could  be  consoled  amid  the  bitter 
and  crushing  bereavements  of  life,  and  because  it 
alone  could  sustain  them  when  they  should  be  called 
to  lie  down  upon  their  beds  of  death.  My  brethren, 
the  wise  and  pure  in  heart,  throughout  all  Christian 
time,  have  reposed  with  the  most  unyielding  trust  in 
the  religion  to  the  profession  of  which  I  would  now 
persuade  you  all,  because  its  truth  was  supported  by 
all  the  evidence  that  can  well  be  given  to  anything  ; 
because  it  is  supported  by  prophecies  which  are  con- 
nected with  all  time,  and  which  are  rendered  unques- 


90        Irrvportance  of  Religion  to  the  Young. 

tionable  by  past,  as  well  as  by  present  fulfilment ;  be- 
cause it  is  supported  by  miracles  which  are  most  in- 
contestably  proved,  and  because  it  is  itself,  in  its  whole 
nature  and  character,  essentially  miraculous.  I  mean, 
that  it  professes  to  be  a  supernatural  communication 
from  Heaven,  and  from  the  unearthly  character  of  its 
teaching  we  conclude  irresistibly  that  it  never  could 
have  been  otherwise  produced.  From  its  entire  superi- 
ority to  all  the  efforts  of  the  human  intellect  through- 
out all  past  ages,  we  are  bound  to  infer  that  the  human 
mind  would  never  have  produced  such  doctrines  in  its 
ordinary  exercise.  And  then  in  their  absolute  puri- 
ty and  excellence,  and  in  their  beautiful  congeniality 
to  our  loftiest  views,  best  sensibilities,  and  deepest 
wants,  we  must  see  that  they  are  in  every  way  wor- 
thy of  a  Divine  origin.  Oh  !  suffer  not  yourselves,  I 
conjure  you,  my  brethren,  to  be  beguiled  by  the  se- 
ductive speculations  of  any  of  the  tribe  of  misguided 
men  whose  labors  are  directed  to  poison,  if  they 
can,  the  purest  and  sweetest  fountains  of  human  hap- 
piness ;  to  deprive  us  of  our  dearest  hopes  and  most 
elevated  sources  of  joy ;  to  rob  the  sick  of  the  conso- 
lations of  religion,  and  to  deprive  the  dying  of  their 
hope  of  immortality ;  to  lay  the  axe  at  the  root  of 
all  moral  obligation  ;  to  throw  open  the  floodgates  of 
licentiousness,  and  to  sap  the  foundations  of  social  or- 
der. 

Ah  !  my  young  friends,  if  it  be  so,  that  so  long  as 
conscience  retains  her  empire  in  the  human  breast, 
the  stain  of  blood  can  never  be  washed  away  from  the 
murderer's  hand ;  although  the  tears  of  repentance 


Importance  of  Religion  to  the  Young.        91 

may  have  blotted  the  record  from  the  book  of  God's 
remembrance,  yet  neither  the  pardon  of  man,  nor  the 
forgiveness  of  God,  can  ever  erase  from  the  memory 
of  the  once  guilty  man  the  terrible  story  that  is  writ- 
ten there  in  characters  of  fire ;  nothing  can  remove 
the  horror  with  which  he  gazes  upon  the  hand  that 
was  busy  in  the  dark  tragedy,  nor  can  anything  ever 
drive  away  the  gory  phantom  of  the  dead  that  haunts 
the  murderer's  retirement, — which  is  with  him  in  the 
sunshine  and  in  the  shade,  draws  aside  his  curtains 
at  midnight,  and  governs  the  current  of  his  dreams ; 
so  too  do  I  believe,  that  it  is  not  in  the  power  of  the 
deepest  repentance  and  the  sincerest  faith  ever  to 
cure  the  burning  agony  which  will  prey  at  the  heart 
of  him  who  has  once  acted  the  part  of  a  corrupter  of 
the  young ;  who  has  successfully  whispered  his  infidel 
precepts  into  the  pure  warm  bosom  of  ingenuous  youth; 
who  with  fiendish  cruelty  has  put  forth  his  hand  to 
sever  the  ties  of  religious  restraint,  and  has  rejoiced 
to  see  his  victim  rushing  headlong  through  the  paths 
of  licentiousness  in  the  downward  way  of  the  de- 
stroyer. My  brethren,  he  is  a  criminal  of  the  deepest 
dye.  He  is  a  murderer  in  the  worst  and  darkest  sense 
in  which  the  word  can  be  used.  The  stain,  the  black, 
indelible  stain  of  a  brother's  blood  is  upon  him.  He 
has  not  only  been  the  slow  but  sure  executioner  of 
the  body,  but  he  has  been  the  fell  murderer  of  the 
IMMORTAL  SOUL,  and  a  murderer's  fate  is  his ;  he  has 
murdered  his  own  peace  forever.  Whatever  may 
ultimately  be  his  own  prospect  for  personal  salvation, 
through  the  repentance  that  has  humbled  him,  yet 


92        Importance  of  Religion  to  the  Young. 

the  perdition  that  he  sees  and  feels  he  has  brought 
upon  another  hangs  upon  his  heart,  as  a  weight  al- 
most too  grievous  to  be  borne,  and  yet  too  heavy  to 
be  ever  removed.  The  horrid,  the  blasting,  the 
heart-withering  prospect  is  before  him,  of  hearing  in 
that  day  when  we  shall  all  stand  before  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  Christ,  of  hearing  the  piercing  shrieks 
of  the  souls  he  has  ruined,  falling  in  curses  on  his 
head. 

Oh  !  turn,  my  young  friends,  turn  with  shuddering 
from  the  presence  of  the  scorner,  who  with  horrid 
daring  would  mock  at  your  Saviour,  and  deride  the 
sacredness  of  your  religious  feelings.  Those  men,  of 
every  grade  and  class,  are  lying  and  seducing  spirits 
with  which  God  permits  the  earth  to  be  cursed,  for 
the  punishment  or  trial  of  his  creatures.  Let  it  be 
enough  for  you,  that  all  which  is  great  and  imposing, 
all  that  is  tender  and  affecting,  all  that  is  sublime 
and  terrific  on  earth,  in  heaven,  or  in  hell,  is  now 
addressed  to  your  hopes  and  your  fears  in  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  Son  of  God.  On  the  one  hand,  there  is 
presented  to  the  obstinate  and  impenitent  transgressor 
Divine  Justice,  arrayed  in  all  the  terrors  of  Almighty 
power ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  there  is  graciously 
held  to  the  humble  believer  the  atoning  and  peace- 
speaking  blood  of  the  Saviour.  They  who  can  remain 
uninfluenced  by  these  considerations,  who  reject  this 
Gospel,  with  its  life-giving  precepts,  and  who  alto- 
gether spurn  at  its  restraining  discipline,  must  be 
deemed  irreclaimable ;  must  be  given  over  to  their 
evil  heart  of  unbelief ;  and  they  will  be  found  without 


Importance  of  Religion  to  the  Young.        93 

remedy  and  without  excuse  in  their  eternal  and  dis- 
astrous submission  to  the  tyranny  of  the  evil  one. 

But  again.  A  second  mark  of  a  "  want  of  under- 
standing "  in  the  young  is  when  they  are  found  pro- 
fessing an  entire  belief  in  the  truth  and  sacredness 
of  the  religious  principles  of  their  fathers,  yet  studi- 
ously postponing  their  entrance  on  a  religious  course 
of  life ;  and  through  a  most  unworthy  timidity,  or  a 
criminal  fear  of  the  laugh  of  a  guilty  world,  they 
carelessly  neglect  every  sacrament  and  every  ordi- 
nance to  which  their  dying  Saviour  has  called  them, 
as  the  avenues  through  which  He  will  impart  His 
blessings  and  strength  to  them,  and  as  being,  at  the 
same  time,  the  appointed  means  and  ordinances 
through  which  they  were  required  to  manifest  their 
discipleship  and  obedience  to  their  Divine  Master. 
Oh !  what  can  I  say  to  rouse  you  to  a  proper  sense  of 
this  ruinous  insensibility  to  the  loud  calls  which 
your  Saviour  God  is  making  upon  you  for  visible 
communion  and  fellowship,  for  a  prompt  decision 
and  open  avowal  of  the  trust  you  repose  in  His 
power  to  bless  and  save  you  forever?  Why  is  there 
so  much  of  frigid  indifference  in  a  concern  of  such 
overwhelming  importance  ?  If  your  religion  is  worth 
anything  to  you,  is  it  not  worth  everything  ?  If  you 
cultivate  it  not  in  life,  can  you  expect  it  to  afford 
you  its  consolation  in  death?  Is  it  not  the  most  ex- 
traordinary of  all  possible  infatuations,  that  you  should 
repose  in  the  hope  that  you  have  the  Almighty  God 
for  your  Father,  and  Jesus  the  Son  for  your  everlast- 
ing Friend,  and  yet  that  you  should  be  ashamed  to 


94        Importance  of  Religion  to  the  Young, 

profess  this  hope  before  dying  men  ?  You  believe 
the  Scriptures ;  you  are  shocked  at  the  daring  and 
mischievous  incredulity  of  infidels ;  you  think  of  the 
horn-  of  death,  and  of  your  accountability  in  the  fu- 
ture life,  with  the  deepest  anxiety  ;  you  believe  that 
the  Son  of  God  came  down  from  heaven  to  reveal 
the  way  to  the  eternal  favor  of  the  Creator,  but  yet 
you  fear  not  to  stifle  all  these  momentous  considera- 
tions ;  you  fear  not  practically  to  deny,  by  refusing 
to  acknowledge,  the  supremacy  of  Christ  and  all  His 
requirements ;  you  fear  not  to  dishonor  and  provoke 
your  God,  but  you  do  fear  the  sneer  and  the  laugh 
of  man,  who  to-day  is  and  to-morrow  is  not;  you 
fear  to  profess  the  faith  you  cherish  in  your  Almighty 
Redeemer,  lest  it  should  subject  you  to  the  ridicule — 
not  of  the  truly  great  and  good  of  the  earth — not  of 
the  wise  and  pure  in  heart — but  of  the  "  young  men 
who  are  void  of  understanding  " — perhaps  the  most 
senseless,  profligate,  and  abandoned  of  the  earth. 

My  brethren,  let  me  ask,  with  the  most  solemn 
earnestness,  whether  the  everlasting  judgment  of  a 
frowning  God  and  the  eternal  safety  of  the  soul  can 
be  put  in  the  balance  against  a  look,  a  word,  a  sneer 
from  a  poor,  perishing,  wicked  creature  of  the  dust, 
without  the  most  egregious  and  infinite  folly  ?  Alas, 
alas  !  what  a  "  want  of  understanding "  is  here. 

My  young  friends,  may  the  Spirit  of  the  living 
God  bring  these  things  home  to  your  consciences  with 
His  own  almighty  energy ;  may  He  enable  you  to 
balance  wisely  between  the  empty  opinions  of  men 
and  the  eternal  approbation  of  your  God ;  and  then 


Importa/nce  of  Religion  to  the  Young.        95 

may  you  simply,  modestly,  and  from  the  heart  con- 
fess the  faith  which  you  have  in  Jesus  the  Mediator 
before  the  world,  so  that  in  the  great  and  awful  day 
which  is  to  come,  He  too  may  confess  you  before  His 
Father  and  the  hosts  of  holy  angels  which  are  with 
Him  !  But  if  it  must  be,  that  all  of  the  warnings  of 
celestial  wisdom  are  to  fall  upon  you  like  idle  say- 
ings which  you  regard  not ;  if  the  dread  of  unwise 
and  wicked  men  is  more  powerful  with  you  than  the 
approbation  of  the  good  and  the  favor  of  your  God, 
then  tell  me,  what  is  there  to  secure  you  from  show- 
ing still  further  your  "•  want  of  understanding,"  by 
running  with  the  licentious  and  the  guilty  into  all  the 
horrible  excesses  of  debauchery?  If,  in  your  sim- 
plicity, you  have  in  any  way  become  the  victim  of  the 
unprincipled  and  profligate,  what  is  there  to  secure 
you  from  the  still  further  effects  of  their  enticing 
words,  and  all  the  seductive  artifices  by  which  thou- 
sands and  thousands  around  you  are  daily  lured  on, 
step  by  step,  through  the  orgies  of  folly,  the  haunts  of 
vice,  the  abodes  of  pollution,  and  the  yawning  gates 
of  present  ruin,  into  the  gulf  of  eternal  death  ? 

Yes,  yes,  my  brethren,  they  who,  in  the  language 
of  the  wise  man,  are  so  "  devoid  of  understand- 
ing "  as  to  forget  their  God,  neglect  the  command- 
ments of  their  Saviour,  and  to  postpone,  without  rea- 
son and  without  excuse,  the  clear  duties  of  their  re- 
ligion, have  nothing  whatever  to  secure  them  froni 
the  awful  condition  of  the  thousands  around  them 
who  have  utterly  renounced  all  the  obligations  of 
virtue.     They  are  of  like  passions  with  other  mortals, 


96         Imjportance  of  Religion  to  the  Young, 

and  vice  is  forever  busy  in  spreading  before  the  young 
her  bewildering  allurements.  It  is  only  high  princi- 
ple, it  is  the  sense  of  religious  restraint  alone,  which 
can  secure  us  from  the  blight  of  her  fascinating  temp- 
tations. Let  these  be  lost  sight  of,  and,  O  God  of 
my  children,  Thou  alone  canst  tell  how  soon  I  may 
be  called  to  pour  forth  floods  of  tears  from  my  broken 
heart  over  the  victims  of  the  maddening  riot  of  dis- 
sipation, the  shameless  frequenters  of  haunts  of  all 
that  is  debasing,  and  the  mournful,  heart-rending 
exemplifiers  of  all  that  is  wildly  dreadful  in  the  gam- 
bler's home. 

Let  no  infatuated  youth  who  has  been  tempted  to 
wander  from  the  ways  of  the  wise,  and  to  depart 
from  the  path  of  understanding,  here  say,  that  he 
will  never  go  to  such  lengths  as  these.  As  well 
might  the  charioteer  who  has  thrown  the  reins  from 
his  hands,  while  drawn  by  his  spirited  and  foaming 
steeds,  still  expect  to  control  their  rapid  movements. 
As  well  might  the  enlisted  soldier  expect  to  be  con- 
sulted as  to  the  battles  he  will  fight,  or  how  long  he 
will  continue  the  contest,  as  for  him  who  has  once 
given  himself  up  as  the  servant  of  sin  to  say  how 
low  he  means  to  descend  in  the  ways  of  profligac}', 
and  how  soon  he  intends  that  the  blush  of  shame  shall 
return  to  that  cheek  from  which  he  has  driven  all 
the  coloring  with  which  ingenuous  innocence  gazes 
upon  impurity  and  crime. 

Oh,  my  young  friends,  let  me  warn  you  against 
the  contagion  of  evil  example.  "If  sinners  entice 
thee,  consent  thou  not."     "  Cease  to  hear  the  instruc- 


Imjportance  of  Religion  to  the  Young.         97 

tion  that  causeth  thee  to  err  from  the  words  of  knowl- 
edge." "  Enter  not  at  all  into  the  paths  of  the  wick- 
ed, and  go  not  into  the  way  of  evil  men.  Avoid  it, 
pass  not  by  it,  turn  from  it,  and  pass  away."  "When- 
ever the  tempter  would  lure  you  with  his  blandish- 
ments, let  the  spectres  of  the  victims,  careworn  as 
they  are,  murdered  as  they  were,  who  were  in  this 
way  beguiled  to  their  destruction,  rise  up  before  you. 
Let  the  shades  of  your  pious  ancestors  stand  before 
you  in  the  path ;  let  reason  proclaim  your  danger, 
let  conscience  whisper  the  awful  guilt  of  yielding ; 
yea,  let  the  voice  which  speaks  from  the  flaming 
throne  of  God  be  heard  when  it  exclaims,  "  For  all 
these  things  will  I  bring  thee  into  judgment." 

My  young  friends,  I  have  no  time  to  dwell  longer 
upon  the  many  considerations  which  have  suggested 
themselves  to  my  mind  in  connection  with  the  many 
mournful  exhibitions  which  we  are  called  to  witness, 
of  the  young  who,  in  the  language  of  Solomon,  are 
"  void  of  understanding."  Permit  me  now  to  say,  in 
conclusion,  that  if  the  call  we  so  urgently  make  upon 
you  for  an  open  dedication  of  yourselves  to  the  ser- 
vice of  the  God  of  your  lives,  was  a  call  for  separa- 
tion from  the  pleasures  of  society  ;  if  religion  was  all 
sacrifice  and  no  reward,  all  self-denial  and  no  indul- 
gence, all  darkness  and  mortification,  with  no  light 
and  encouragement ;  still,  if  this  were  clearly  the  call 
and  the  command  of  God,  then  all  of  it  ought  to  be 
endm'ed,  and  endured  with  cheerfulness.  If  this 
path,  so  thorny  and  narrow,  were  the  only  path 
which  could  lead  to  the  glories  of  immortal  life ;  if  this 


98         Imjportance  of  Religion  to  the  Young. 

avenue,  so  dark  and  dreary,  were  the  only  avenue 
which  would  open  at  last  upon  the  bright  and  sun- 
clad  regions  of  the  celestial  country,  then  should  we 
promptly  enter  upon  that  way  and  pursue  it  joyfully 
without  fear  and  without  fainting.  But  so  far  is  any- 
thing like  this  from  being  true,  that  God  has  most 
mercifully  connected  your  duty  to  Him  with  your  best 
and  purest  happiness  on  earth.  Religion  calls  for  no 
sacrifice  which  a  true  regard  for  your  own  best  inter- 
ests would  not  lead  you  to  make.  There  is  surely 
nothing  austere  or  terrific  in  her  aspect.  "Length 
of  days  is  in  her  right  hand,  and  in  her  left  hand 
riches  and  honor  ;  "  "  her  ways  are  w'ays  of  pleasant- 
ness, and  all  her  paths  are  paths  of  peace  ;  "  "  Mark 
the  perfect  man,  and  behold  the  upright,  for  the  end 
of  that  man  is  peace." 

But  one  consideration  more,  and  I  must  leave  yon. 
My  brethren,  as  common-place  as  it  may  be,  yet 
must  I,  in  conclusion,  suggest  to  you  the  awful  un- 
certainty in  which  you  hold  existence.  I  know  that 
you  will  all  be  ready  enough  to  admit  the  possibility 
of  your  being  cut  off  by  death  before  the  rising  of  to- 
morrow's sun.  Let,  then,  the  controlling  thought, 
while  yet  it  is  present  with  you,  lead  yoni  to  resolve 
now  to  give  your  hearts  to  that  God  before  whose 
tribunal  you  must  so  soon  appear.  Defer  not  until 
to-morrow — to-morrow  may  never  dawn  for  you  ! 
Dream  not  that  you  are  for  one  moment  safe,  when 
all  human  experience  should  go  to  satisfy  you  that 
every  moment  as  it  comes  is  fraught  with  danger. 
How  many  are  the  budding  roses  that  you  have  seen 


iTnjportance  of  Religion  to  the  Young.         99 

blasted  before  they  could  unfold  their  bloom !  How 
many  bright  mornings  have  you  seen  darkened  by 
storms,  before  the  sun  has  reached  his  noon  !  And 
ah !  how  many  trophies  have  you  known  death  to 
gather  from  souls  in  the  morning  of  their  days,  while 
the  aged  and  decrepit  have  been  left  to  water  the 
earth  with  their  tears  1  Ah,  how  many  are  the 
cheeks  of  early  beauty  which  you  have  seen  grow 
pale  and  ghastly  with  the  fatal  disease !  How  many 
strong  arms  have  you  seen  to  fall  languid,  palsied, 
and  lifeless  !  How  many  eyes,  kindling  with  love, 
have  you  known  to  be  closed  in  death,  and  how 
many  untimely  graves  have  opened  beneath  your 
eye,  to  receive  the  ruins  of  youth,  beauty,  and 
hope !  Where,  then,  Oh !  tell  me  where,  is  the  ar- 
mor of  adamant  in  which  you  trust,  as  proof  against 
the  darts  of  death  ?  Where,  Oh !  tell  me  where,  are 
your  grounds  for  presuming  that  He  will  spare  you 
who  spares  none  else  beside  ? 

No,  no,  my  young  friends,  you  have  no  chartered 
exemption  from  the  strokes  of  death.  You  have 
been  granted  no  monopoly  of  life.  Consent  then  to 
be  warned  of  the  necessity  of  doing  that  at  once, 
which  delay  may  forever  prevent  you  from  doing. 
Oh !  let  not  the  shades  of  the  many  who  have  died  as 
young  as  you  are  hover  around  you  in  vain  ;  let  not 
the  cries  of  the  many  who  are  hourly  perishing  in 
their  youth  reach  us  in  vain ;  let  not  the  tears  of  the 
fathers  and  mothers  who  are  following  their  children 
to  their  graves,  be  poured  forth  in  vain  ;  let  not  our 
places  of  sepulture,  crowded  as  they  are  with  the 


100       Importance  of  Beligion  to  the  Young. 

mouldering  remains  of  the  young,  admonish  us  in 
vain  ;  let  not  Heaven  unfold  before  the  eye  of  faith 
the  vast  harvests  it  has  gathered  from  tlie  young  and 
lovely,  and  thus  appeal  to  us  in  vain.  And  Oh!  let 
not  the  hell  that  is  beneath  lay  bare  its  places  of  tor- 
ment in  vain,  while  it  leads  us  to  think  of  the  many 
who  have  been  cut  down  by  death  in  the  midst  of 
their  wickedness,  and  while  fancying  themselves  only 
in  the  spring-time  and  morning  of  their  days ! 

My  young  friends,  if  you  would  ever  know  the 
full  joy  and  peace  of  believing,  give  to  God  your 
heart  in  the  days  of  your  youth.  In  the  bright  and 
buoyant  hours  of  health  and  early  strength,  listen 
meekly  to  the  voice  of  celestial  wisdom,  and  "  let 
thine  eyes  observe  the  ways  of  understanding,"  Then 
shall  the  bosoms  of  the  parents  who  gave  you  being 
be  filled  with  unutterable  gladness.  Then  shall  the 
Church  on  earth  open  her  arms  to  welcome  and  to 
bless  you.  Then  shall  the  angels  in  Heaven  rejoice 
to  become  your  ministering  spirits  of  love.  Then 
shall  the  Saviour  God  be  ready  to  clothe  you  with 
His  own  spotless  robe  of  righteousness ;  and,  if  not 
wanting  to  yourself,  in  His  own  good  season  you  will 
be  called  away  to  run  with  Him  the  immortal  race 
of  glory. 


THE  SACRIFICE  OF  ALL   THINGS  HURTFUL 
THE  SOUL. 


TO 


^^  And  if  thy  right  eye  offend  thee,  pluck  it  out,  and  cast  it  from 
thee  ;  for  it  is  projitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish, 
and  not  that  thy  ivhole  body  should  be  cast  into  hell. 

'■'■  And  if  thy  right  hand  offend  thee,  cut  it  off,  and  cast  it  from  thee  ; 
for  it  is  profitable  for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish,  and 
not  that  thy  whole  body  should  be  caM  into  hell." 

Matthew  5th,  29th  and  80th. 

EFORE  proceeding  to  what  I  have  to  re- 
mark upon  these  words,  permit  me  to  say, 
my  brethren,  that  it  is  important  you  should 
keep  in  mind  that  our  Lord  had  already 
expressly  declared  his  intention  to  uphold  the  author- 
ity of  the  moral  law.  He  had  also  openly  rebuked 
the  pretensions  to  righteousness  on  the  part  of  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees.  He  had  most  completely 
proved  the  extent  and  universal  application  of  the 
moral  law  of  which  He  spake,  by  showing  the  spirit- 
uality of  its  precepts  ;  while  He  had  at  the  same  time 
substantiated  everything  He  had  said  against  the 
Pharisees,  by  proving  their  insincerity,  their  hypoc- 
risy, and  the  falsehood  and  insufficiency  of  their  doc- 
trines. He  evinces  most  clearly  that  these  evil-mind- 
ed men  sapped  most  completely  the  very  foundation 
of  true  holiness,  by  confining  the  prohibitions  of  the 


102  TJie  Sacrifice  of  all  Things^  etc. 

law  to  the  outward  deed ;  while  they  left  free,  and 
entirely  uncontrolled,  those  inward  dispositions  of 
the  heart  from  which  all  practical  wickedness  must 
proceed. 

The  words  of  the  text  convey  an  illustration  of 
the  most  resolute  self-denial  and  self-sacrifice  in 
everything  of  a  guilty  nature.  In  the  words  of  the 
text  we  are  distinctly  taught  that  we  cannot  cherish 
unhallowed  and  irregular  passions,  wilfully  and  per- 
severingly,  without  being  in  danger  of  the  consum- 
ing anger  of  God ! 

Our  Lord  most  plainly  teaches  that  there  is  no 
alternative  in  the  case.  The  cause  of  oflence  must 
be  avoided  and  given  up,  or  the  loss  of  the  soul  is  the 
inevitable  consequence !  He  then  goes  on  to  com- 
pare a  besetting  sin  of  this  fatal  character  to  an  in- 
curable unsoundness  in  any  part  of  the  body.  As,  for 
instance,  a  gangrene  or  mortification,  if  neglected,  in 
any  one  limb  or  member  of  the  bodily  frame,  would 
most  surely  infect  and  destroy  the  whole  body ;  so,  too, 
and  just  as  sm'ely,  will  any  one  unhallowed  passion  or 
vicious  propensity,  cherished  without  restraint  in  the 
heart,  ultimately  and  infallibly  taint  and  destroy  the 
whole  soul !  Just  in  the  same  way,  as  it  is  often 
found  necessary,  and  constantly  acknowledged  to  be 
best,  to  endure  the  pain  and  loss  of  cutting  off  a 
diseased  member  in  order  to  save  the  whole  body 
from  destruction  ;  so,  too,  is  it  just  as  necessary,  and 
so,  too,  is  it  just  as  profitable  and  wise,  to  give  up 
every  bad  passion,  and  to  abandon  every  debasing 
habit,  rather  than  to  run  the  risk  of  losing  the  happi- 


The  Sacrifice  of  all  Thmgs,  etc.  103 

ness  of  the  immortal  spirit  forever  and  forever !  "  If 
thy  right  hand  or  thy  right  eye  oifend  thee,  pluck  it 
out  and  cast  it  from  thee ;  it  is  better  for  thee  to 
enter  into  life  having  one  eye  or  one  hand,  rather  than 
having  two  eyes  or  two  hands,  to  be  cast  into  hell ! " 
That  is,  if  any  profession  or  pursuit,  any  passion, 
habit,  or  tendency — if  anything  whatsoever  be  to  you 
an  occasion  or  source  of  sin,  then,  however  dear  it 
may  be  to  you,  or  however  essential  you  may  esteem 
it  to  your  present  comfort,  you  must  remove  it  forever. 
In  the  language  of  the  Saviour,  it  is  profit  for  you 
to  do  so  ;  when  the  health  and  safety  of  the  body  is 
concerned  it  is  what  no  man  hesitates  to  do,  and  is 
it  what  you  now  hesitate  to  do  when  the  eternal 
safety  of  the  soul  is  at  stake  ? 

All  that  our  Lord  requires  is,  that  we  should  show 
the  same  regard  for  the  spiritual  and  deathless  that 
we  are  ready  to  do  for  the  material  and  dying  part 
of  our  nature;  that  we  should  make  the  same  ex- 
ertion to  secure  the  life  which  is  to  come,  that  we 
are  ready  enough  to  use  to  prolong  the  life  that  now 
is.  For  the  sake  of  health  and  strength,  men  are 
everywhere  seen  to  abstain  from  many  indulgences 
which  are  calculated  to  yield  them  present  delight ; 
they  submit  to  restraints  which  are  annoying  and 
painful ;  they  resist  the  most  powerful  allurements 
to  injurious  gratifications  ;  they  will,  to  restore  health 
when  it  is  impaired,  cheerfully  employ  the  most  un- 
pleasant remedies,  and  they  willingly  undergo  the 
most  painful  operations.  Who  would  not  gladly 
and  thankfully  give  up  a  part  of  this  wonderful  cor- 


104  The  Sacrifice  of  all  Things^  etc. 

poreal  machine  in  order  to  preserve  the  rest  from 
decay  and  death  %  Now,  all  that  the  Saviour  asks  is, 
that  we  should  do  as  much  for  the  sanctitication  and 
salvation  of  the  spirit  as  we  thus  do  for  the  perish- 
ing body.  Can  anything  be  more  reasonable  than 
this,  or  could  the  Saviour  have  required  anything 
less  from  the  thoughtless  and  ungrateful  creatures 
He  died  to  save?  Have  we  not  infinitely  better 
reason  to  exert  the  spirit  of  resolute  self-sacrifice  in 
behalf  of  the  soul  rather  than  of  the  body  ?  "Which 
of  the  two  is  most  valuable  in  itself,  most  exalted  in 
its  nature,  most  susceptible  of  improvement,  and  most 
fitted  for  happiness  ?  Which  of  the  two  distinguishes 
you  most  from  the  other  creatures  of  God's  creation  ? 
Which  is  it  that  gives  you  the  resemblance  you  bear 
to  the  divine  nature?  Which  of  the  two  is  the 
anxious  object  of  the  Redeemer's  care,  and  intended 
by  Him  to  live  forever  in  His  own  unfading  kingdom? 
Is  it  not  the  soul  ?  For  which  of  the  two,  then,  would 
you  be  willing  to  do  most  and  to  suffek  most  ?  Is 
it  not  the  soul  ?  May  not  the  question,  then,  be  fairly 
put,  whether  you  do  bestow  upon  the  soul  your  prin- 
cipal care,  whether  you  ever  allow  it  an  equal  share 
of  your  anxiety  and  your  attention  ?  You  are  careful 
enough,  no  doubt,  for  the  health  of  the  body.  You 
avoid  unnecessary  exposure  to  peril ;  you  avoid  the 
contagion  of  infectious  disorders  ;  you  are  thankful 
always  for  friendly  advice,  and  for  useful  and  timely 
warnings  upon  these  points.  You  are  grieved  when 
the  health  of  the  body  has  been  impaired.  You  are 
alarmed  upon  the  very  first  symptom  of  a  dangerous 


The  Sacrifice  of  all  Things^  etc.  105 

distemper,  and  you  fly  anxiously  to  the  use  of  the 
remedies  which  may  be  within  your  reach.  But 
again  does  tlie  question  occur :  Are  you  as  reasonably 
anxious  for  the  health  and  safety  of  the  immortal 
spirit,  which  is  equally  subject  to  disease,  to  the  fatal 
effects  of  contagion,  and  to  a  moral  death  infinitely 
more  to  be  dreaded  than  the  dissolution  of  the  perish- 
ing body  ? 

My  brethren !  the  question  is,  are  you  at  pains  to 
secure  yourselves  from  the  contagion  of  evil  example, 
and  the  temptation  of  evil  company?  When  the 
effects  of  sin  begin  to  show  themselves  in  your  hearts, 
do  you  apply  yourselves  earnestly  to  be  relieved  from 
its  debasing  influence ;  are  you  touched  with  sorrow 
and  alarm  lest  its  sway  over  you  should  be  perma- 
nent and  fatal  ?  Are  you  willing  to  receive  warnings 
of  your  peril ;  are  you  grateful  for  the  intimations 
which  may  be  given  you  as  to  the  way  of  escape 
from  the  path  of  the  destroyer ;  and  do  you  thankfully 
take  hold  of  the  hand  held  out  to  you  from  the  skies, 
to  lead  you  into  the  way  of  eternal  safety  \  My 
brethren,  are  you  willing  to  renounce  everything 
which  you  know  to  be  contrary  to  the  will  of  God, 
and  hurtful  to  your  spiritual  progress  %  Although  it 
may  be  a  source  of  pleasure,  although  it  may  be  a 
means  of  gain,  although  it  may  be  your  stepping- 
stone  to  the  honors  of  the  world,  although  it  may  be 
as  dear  to  you  as  the  right  eye,  or  the  right  hand — 
yet  must  you  cut  it  off!  You  must  count  it  as  nothing 
in  comparison  with  the  hazard  of  losing  the  true  life 
of  the  soul  throughout  the  wasteless  ages  of  eternity ! 

5* 


106  The  Sacrifice  of  all  Things,  etc. 

No  one  can  deny  but  there  is  as  raucli  spiritual 
wickedness  in  the  world,  as  there  are  bodily  diseases  ; 
and  that  there  is  as  ranch  risk  of  being  corrupted  by 
the  one  as  of  our  being  infected  by  the  other.  No 
one  will  doubt  but  that  as  many  persons  have  suffer- 
ed in  their  morals  by  wicked  example  as  have  lost 
their  health  by  contagious  disorders,  Nor  will  any 
one  for  one  moment  doubt  but  that  the  consequences 
of  exposing  the  soul  to  injury  are  infinitely  more 
dreadful  than  anything  that  can  befall  the  body ! 
How,  then,  my  brethren,  is  the  conduct  of  those  per- 
sons to  be  excused  who  are  known  to  shut  their  eyes, 
wilfully  and  perversely,  against  their  greatest  spirit- 
ual errors,  and  most  imminent  spiritual  perils  ;  to 
treat  such  matters  as  if  they  were  the  most  trivial  of 
all  things  ;  to  go  on  their  way  in  the  downward  road 
of  their  folly  without  consideration,  and  without  the 
slightest  apprehension  of  the  consequences  that  may 
befall  them,  and,  therefore,  utterly  neglecting  all  the 
means  which  their  Creator  Himself  has  graciously 
recommended  for  the  purity,  the  security,  and  the 
eternal  peace  of  their  immortal  souls ! 

How  can  conduct  like  this  be  reconciled  in  rational 
beings  with  the  profession  of  any  sort  of  religious  prin- 
ciple ?  How  can  any  man  complain  of  the  severity  of 
our  blessed  Lord's  requirements,  when  He  manifestly 
requires  notliing  more  from  them,  in  order  to  secure  the 
welfare  of  the  immortal  spirit  that  animates  them,  than 
they  themselves  are  perfectly  willing  to  do  for  the  body,- 
which  is  hourly  dying, — and  must  die  inevitably,  do  for 
it — suffer  for  it — what  they  may  ?     "Who  now  will  pre- 


The  Sacrifice  of  all  Things,  etc.  107 

tend  to  say,  that  our  Lord's  requirement  in  the  text  is  "  a 
hard  saying,"  when  He  only  tells  us  that  we  must 
be  prepared  to  exercise  the  same  attention,  the  same 
anxiety,  the  same  resolution,  and  the  same  fortitude, 
in  the  case  of  the  soul's  eternal  welfare,  that  we  are 
always  ready  to  exert  in  behalf  of  the  body  ;  when 
at  best  we  can  only  hope  to  extend  its  being  for  a 
brief  and  fading  moment  of  time !  My  brethren,  it 
becomes  us  to  lay  these  things  seriously  to  heart.  Who 
is  there  "without  sin  amongst  us"  in  this  particular 
of  caring  far  more  for  the  interests  of  the  body  than 
of  the  soul  ?  Of  being  careful  and  troubled  about  many 
things,  while  we  overlook  the  "  one  thing  "  which  of  all 
other  things  is  most  needful?  Of  acting  well  our  part 
in  all  things  else,  while  we  neglect  that  "good  part  the 
fruits  of  which  shall  never  be  taken  away  from  us ! " 

The  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  is,  that  we 
must  fear  and  avoid  more  carefully  than  we  have 
ever  yet  done,  not  so  much  those  things  which  can 
only  hurt  and  kill  the  body,  but  rather  those  things 
which  can  occasion  both  soul  and  body  to  be  cast 
into  hell ;  that,  however  painful  may  be  the  sacri- 
fice, and  at  what  cost  soever  it  may  be  to  us,  yet 
our  plain  duty  to  the  God  we  serve  must  be  met ; 
it  must  be  met  cheerfully,  calmly,  and  with  a  resolute 
spirit !  Come,  then,  my  beloved  brethren,  and  let 
us  this  day  resolve  that  for  the  future  we  will  labor 
more  earnestly,  not  so  much  for  the  meat  which 
perisheth  as  for  the  meat  which  endureth  unto  ever- 
lasting life ;  that  we  will  seek  more  diligently,  not 
so  much  those  things  which  are  only  profitable  for 


108  The  Sacrifice  of  all  Things^  etc. 

the  life  that  now  is,  but  for  rather  those  things 
which  are  profitable  also  for  the  life  that  is  to  come  ! 
Let  us  strive  to  cherish  a  more  constant  intercourse 
with  our  Maker,  and  to  live  always  as  if  in  His  pres- 
ence !  Let  us  abstain,  more  and  more,  from  every 
practice  and  every  pleasure  which  by  experience  we 
find  to  lessen  our  relish  for  divine  things  and  to 
attract  us  inordinately  to  the  present  life !  And,  my 
brethren,  be  constantly  looking  forward  to  the  end, 
and  ask  yourselves,  what  labors,  what  sacrifices, 
what  self-denials  shall  we  regret  in  that  mighty  and 
imposing  hour  when  we  shall  exchange  our  sackcloth 
of  fasting  for  those  robes  that  have  been  washed  in 
the  blood  of  the  Lamb ;  and  when  we  shall  hear 
our  blessed  Saviour  say,  "  "Well  done,  good  and  faith- 
ful servant,  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  your  Lord." 


ALL  OUR  TRIALS  A  SOURCE  OF  BLESSING. 


imSmSBm 


'■''And  as  Jesus  passed  by,  he  saw  a  man  who  teas  blind  from  his  birth. 
And  his  disciples  asked  him,  saying,  Master,  who  did  sin,  this  man  or 
his  parents,  that  he  was  born  blind? 

'''■Jesus  answered:  Neither  hath  this  man  sinned,  nor  his  parents  ;  but 
that  the  works  of  God  should  be  made  manifest  in  him.''^ 

John  Wi,  1st,  2d,  Sd. 

HIS  inquiry  of  the  disciples  is  remarkable, 
and  to  ordinary  readers  it  may  be  hard 
to  understand.  It  would  seem  to  imply 
the  possibility  either  of  a  man's  having 
sinned  before  he  was  born,  or  that  the  sins  of 
his  parents  might  have  been  the  direct  cause  of 
his  blindness.  With  regard  to  the  man's  sinning 
before  he  was  born,  it  will  perhaps  relieve  the  text 
of  all  difficulty,  by  considering  that  the  doctrine  of 
the  philosopher  Pythagoras  was  currently  received 
before  the  coming  of  our  Lord.  The  teaching  of 
his  philosophy  amounted  to  this :  that  souls  once 
created  could  neither  be  annihilated  nor  withdrawn 
from  active  existence  in  the  present  condition  of 
things;  but  that  they  migrated  from  one  body  to 
another,  as  living  bodies  were  successively  cut  down 
and  mouldered  into  ruin.  Some  teachers  appear  to 
have  held  that  the  air  was  filled  with  these  flitting 


110      All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing. 

and  unseen  spirits,  hovering  anxiously  around  to  be 
in  readiness  for  the  bodies  whicli  the  gods  might 
prepare  for  them ;  and  that  the  change  of  habita- 
tion was  either  for  the  better  or  worse,  as  the  spirit 
had  used  or  abused  its  freedom  in  a  previous  condi- 
tion of  existence.  It  will  scarcely  be  necessary  for 
me  to  argue  that  this  idea  of  transmigration  was  a 
ridiculous  delusion ;  it  is  certain,  however,  that  the 
doctrine  very  generally  prevailed  at  that  day,  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  notion  was  present  to 
the  minds  of  the  disciples  who  proposed  the  inquiry 
we  are  now  considering.  It  is  remarkable,  too, 
that  the  same  sentiments  should  even  now  be  widely 
held  by  the  Hindoos,  and  perhaps  some  other  pagan 
nations.  The  Hindoos  go  so  far  as  to  judge  with 
great  pretended  accuracy  of  the  character  of  the 
crimes  committed  in  a  previous  probation,  according 
to  the  nature  of  the  bodily  infirmity  to  which  they 
are  now  subjected. 

It  is  enougii  for  us  to  know  that  the  doctrine  is 
entirely  at  variance  with  the  uniform  teaching  of 
the  Scriptures  on  the  subject  of  a  day  of  general 
resurrection  and  final  retribution,  when  we  are  ex- 
pressly assured  that  to  every  "  seed  shall  be  assigned 
its  own  body."  The  body  in  which  Christ  appeared 
after  His  resurrection  was  precisely  the  same  body  in 
which  He  had  been  known  to  move  on  earth.  With 
regard  to  Jacob  and  Esau,  and  in  reference  perhaps 
to  this  very  philosophy,  St.  Paul  declares,  "  the 
children,  being  not  yet  born,  had  done  neither  good 
nor   evil."     And   our  Lord   promptly  assured   His 


All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing.       Ill 

disciples,  that  it  was  not  for  any  sins  of  his  own  that 
the  blind  man  before  him  had  been  brought  into  the 
world  in  his  present  pitiable  condition. 

The  second  object  of  their  inquiry  is,  perhaps, 
deserving  of  more  attention.  "  Who  did  sin,  this 
man  or  his  parents,  that  he  was  born  blind  ? " 
Now,  as  extraordinary  as  it  may  appear  that,  in  the 
arrangements  of  infinite  benevolence,  a  child  should 
come  to  suffering  in  consequence  of  a  parent's  ini- 
quity, yet  we  are  from  hourly  experience  compelled 
to  know  that  although  so  far  as  the  child  is  concerned 
it  may  not  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  punishment, 
yet  that  nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  the  conse- 
quences of  parental  crime  do  constantly  descend  upon 
the  head  of  his  offspring. 

In  a  temporal  point  of  view  we  see  it  all  around 
us,  that  the  threatening  of  the  law  as  it  came  from 
Sinai  is  not  confined  to  the  people  of  God's  first 
love.  With  them  the  children  never  failed  to  reap 
the  proper  fruits  of  their  fathers'  sowing.  If  the 
parents  chose  to  depart  from  the  light,  the  elevation, 
the  glory  of  the  true  God,  the  children  were  of 
necessity  left  to  the  darkness,  degradation,  and  infa- 
my that  the  practice  of  idolatry  was  sure  to  induce  ; 
and  with  us  we  see  that  the  wicked  principles  of  a 
parent  are  almost  infallibly  sown  in  the  hearts  of 
his  children,  and  are  as  certainly  productive  of  the 
fruits  of  bitterness  and  sin.  The  parent  whose  pro- 
digality squanders  the  patrimony  with  which  God 
has  enriched  him,  most  certainly  bequeaths  to  his 
children  the  evils  of  poverty. 


112      All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessi/ng. 

The  poisonous  draught  from  the  cup  of  forbidden 
pleasure,  which  a  sinful  parent  has  dared  to  drink, 
not  only  saps  and  destroys  the  springs  of  his  own 
existence,  but  the  disease  continues  to  run  in  a  poi- 
sonous current  through  the  veins  of  his  children, 
circulating  pain,  misery,  and  premature  death. 

Because  of  Eli's  misconduct  in  conniving  at  his 
son's  wickedness,  it  was  declared  that  all  the  increase 
of  his  house  should  "  die  in  the  flower  of  their  age." 
Saul  treacherously  slew  the  Gibeonites,  and  his  seven 
sons  were  hung.  David  sinned,  and  his  child  was 
struck  with  death.  Ahab  was  wicked,  and  it  was 
declared,  not  only  that  he  should  be  punished,  but 
that  in  his  "  son's  days  evil  should  be  brought  upon 
his  house."  Jeroboam  impiously  trifled  with  the 
sacred  priesthood  of  God,  and  the  child  of  his  love 
was  blighted  and  withered  beneath  his  eye.  Indeed, 
not  only  the  historical  pages  of  Scripture,  but  the 
pages  of  ALL  HISTORY,  and  our  every-day  acquaintance 
with  human  life,  will  furnish  us  with  innumerable 
instances  in  which  the  consequences  of  parental  folly 
and  wickedness  are  inherited  directly  by  those  who 
are  to  come  after  them. 

All  of  this,  my  brethren,  is  no  more  than  a  part 
of  the  mixed  and  admirably  balanced  system  amid 
which  we  live.  Wherever  in  this  life  there  is  pleas- 
ure, there  will  also  be  pain,  and  wherever  there  is  a 
conspicuous  source  of  good  it  will  surely  be  attended 
by  its  corresponding  train  of  evils. 

As  the  character  and  fortunes  of  our  parents  are 
our  own  peculiar  fountains  of  comfort  and  happi- 


\ 


All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing.      113 

ness,  so  it  is  neither  unnatural,  unreasonable,  nor 
unjust  that  we  should  inevitably  partake  of  the  con- 
sequences of  their  slothfulness,  indiscretion,  and 
crime.  So  much  for  the  general  rule  as  it  runs.  If 
the  arrangement  has  its  incovenience,  so  it  is  attend- 
ed with  manifest  and  incalculable  advantages.  It  is 
a  powerful  stimulus  to  well-doing,  and  the  strongest 
bond  that  can  bind  communities  together. 

We  have,  however,  the  assurance  of  Christ  that 
neither  had  this  man  sinned  nor  his  parents.  The 
calamity  had  not  fallen  upon  him  as  a  judgment  for 
any  particular  sin,  either  in  the  sufferer  himself  or 
those  who  gave  him  birth.  It  came  as  a  part  of  the 
general  curse  and  ruin  in  which  our  fallen  nature  is 
involved.  It  was  permitted,  as  all  our  evils  are  sent 
and  permitted,  to  advance  our  ultimate  good,  to 
enable  us  to  see  and  rejoice  in  the  benevolence  and 
power  of  God.  The  immediate  end  for  which  this 
particular  case  of  suffering  was  permitted  would  be 
sufficiently  important  and  striking  were  it  only  that 
it  might  be  the  occasion  of  manifesting  the  miracu- 
lous character  of  Christ  to  the  world.  And  you  will 
here  permit  me  to  say  that  in  this  view  of  it,  the 
narrative  affbrds  us  a  most  delightful  evidence  of  the 
perpetual  providence  of  God.  No  condition  can 
possibly  be  conceived  more  utterly  insignificant  than 
that  presented  by  this  case ;  and  yet  we  are  assured 
that  even  this  depressed  and  hopeless  individual  was 
cautiously  preserved  in  his  calamitous  condition,  to 
answer  an  important  end  in  the  mysterious  economy 
of  the  divine  government.     It  has  been  remarked, 


114      All  our  Trials  a  Source,  of  Blessing. 

with  great  pathos  and  beauty,  that  '"  no  situation  in 
human  life  could  possibly  have  been  more  apparently 
useless,  lost,  and  forgotten,  than  that  of  the  blind 
man  that  sat  by  the  wayside."  He  was  born  in 
utter  poverty,  and  born  blind  ;  his  parents  deserted 
him  to  the  cold  compassion  of  the  world,  and  he  sat 
upon  the  sterile  wayside  of  life  to  implore  it.  It  was 
accident  alone  that  seemed  to  bring  him  within  the 
notice  of  our  Saviour.  But  as  we  follow  the  story 
to  the  conclusion — when  we  see  that  even  over  this 
seemingly  deserted  and  hopeless  individual  the  eye 
of  Providence  was  immediately  and  steadily  impend- 
ing— when  we  see  an  important  destiny  which  his 
calamity  is  about  to  fulfil — when  we  see  that  in  him 
the  works  of  God,  and  the  omnipotence  of  the  Son 
of  God,  are  about  to  be  manifested — when  we  see 
that  the  cure  of  an  individual  so  deserted  and  obscure 
was  to  be  the  source  of  instruction  and  comfort  to  all 
succeeding  ages, — there  is  nothing  in  language,  nor 
in  all  the  powers  of  reasoning,  that  can.  so  forcibly 
evince  to  us  the  great  and  consoling  truth  of  the 
perpetual  Providence  of  God.  It  tells  us  at  once 
that  to  His  eye  all  hearts  are  open,  and  all  sorrows 
known ;  that  no  secret  suffering  is  hid  from  Him  ; 
that  wherever  the  creation  of  God  extends,  there,  too, 
the  providence  of  God  must  be  seen  and  felt. 

If  such,  my  friends,  be  the  condition  of  our  being 
that  evil  in  some  shape  is  to  assail  us,  of  what  possible 
consequence  can  it  be  whether  the  evil  descends 
upon  us  through  the  instrumentality  of  some  persons 
rather  than  other  persons ;  of  our  parents,  or  of  some 


All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing.      115 

other  men.  It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  the 
visitation  is  ultimately  to  be  referred  to  the  will  of 
God.  When  things  are  measured  upon  the  great 
scale  of  eternity,  apparent  evils  are  not  necessarily 
to  be  regarded  as  misfortunes ;  and  it  is  in  this  light 
that  much  of  the  natural  evil  which  exists  in  the 
world  should  be  viewed. 

Facts,  the  most  unimposing  in  themselves,  and  in- 
cidents apparently  the  most  casual,  may  yet  be 
destined  to  produce  the  most  important  effects  upon 
individual  happiness,  and  the  destiny  of  empires. 
The  peculiar  purposes  of  God,  in  cases  of  individual 
deprivation  and  grief,  are  never  to  be  too  curiously 
sought  for ;  but  rather  let  us  bow  in  unwavering  con- 
iSdence  to  the  wisdom  of  Him  whose  all-glorious 
mercy  will  be  manifested  when  we  come  to  know  as 
we  also  are  known.  Cheerless  and  helpless  was  the 
condition  of  the  blind  man  who  sat  by  the  wayside, 
but  how  unspeakably  fortunate  was  he  whom  Prov- 
idence had  thus  deprived  of  the  light  of  day,  if  it 
prevented  him  from  pursuing  the  steps  of  those  who 
were  thirsting  for  the  blood  of  the  Lord  of  life,  and 
if  it  were  directly  the  means  of  winning  for  him  the 
present  blessing  and  eternal  salvation  of  the  Kedeera- 
er.  Let  us  but  suppose  that  he  is  now  permitted  to 
look  back  from  the  region  of  the  blessed,  upon  the 
season  of  his  blindness,  degradation,  and  darkness, 
and  with  what  unspeakable  joy  will  he  regard  the 
calamity,  and  every  circumstance  connected  with  it, 
through  which  and  to  which  he  must  attribute  his 
present  illumination  and  glory. 


116      All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing. 

Thus  too,  mj  brethren,  the  period  will  come  when 
we  may  all  look  back  upon  the  trials  through  which 
we  may  have  passed  in  life,  and  if  we  be  not  now 
wanting  to  ourselves,  we  will  then  rejoice  in  their 
purifying  and  sanctifying  influence  upon  our  ran- 
somed spirits.  Here,  some  of  us  may  be  blessed  by 
the  outward  light  of  day,  while  our  heajkts  are  as 
desolate  and  dark  as  that  of  any  blind  and  cheerless 
beggar  who  sits  by  the  wayside  of  life ;  we  have 
been  bereaved,  perhaps,  of  our  children  and  our 
friends ;  the  lives  that  rendered  our  own  lives  desirable 
have  all  passed  away,  and  with  them  the  light  has 
expired  M^hich  alone  could  render  the  world  bright 
and  joyous  for  us. 

My  brethren,  it  is  not  for  him  to  repine  whose 
affections  have  been  effectually  weaned  from  the 
infatuating  joys  of  this  dark,  cold  earth,  and  who  is 
free  to  carry  them  beyond  the  gulf  of  death,  and  give 
them  to  Him  who  alone  can  fill  and  satisfy  them, 
without  change  and  with  allo3\  If  there  be  any  of 
us  who  are  struggling  with  reverses  of  fortune,  or 
who  are  groping  alone  the  by-paths  of  life,  in  the 
darkness  of  penury,  we  may  at  least  rejoice  that  we 
are  delivered  from  the  temptations,  the  trials,  and 
toils  of  opulence.  We  may  not  have  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years,  but  we  can  look  down  into  the  grave 
to  which  we  must  soon  descend,  and  be  glad  that 
they  will  not  be  wanted  there  !  Here,  we  may  be 
poor  in  spirit,  and  doomed  to  toil  our  wearisome  way 
nnder  the  clouds  of  misfortune,  but  we  may  rejoice 
that  we  are  permitted  to  be  rich  in  faith ;   and  that 


All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing.      117 

it  is  our  privilege  to  look  above  the  dust  of  time,  and 
to  repose  in  the  hope  that  our  hearts  may  be  wisely 
fixed  where  our  only  treasure  is.  Yea,  we  may  re- 
joice that  it  is  permitted  us  to  be  etch  in  faith  ;  and 
we  can  look  cheerfully  above  us,  for  there  is  neither 
cloud  nor  darkness  in  those  regions  whither  the  soul 
will  soon  be  summoned  to  wing  its  untiring  and  its 
triumphant  flight. 

If  health  has  now  forsaken  us ;  if  the  rose  has  faded 
from  the  cheek,  and  the  beams  of  hope  play  no  longer 
in  the  eye — if  the  springs  of  life  are  relaxing,  and 
the  damps  of  death  gather  frequent  and  fast  upon 
the  brow,  oh  !  let  us  rejoice  with  solemn  joy  in 
the  kind  and  emphatic  warning  with  which  the  King 
of  terrors  would  prepare  us  for  his  coming.  Let  us 
lay  aside  promptly  the  vain  thoughts  and  criminal 
toys  of  time  ;  there  will  be  no  trifling  in  eternity  ! 

We  come  now  to  throw  out  a  few  thoughts  which 
have  been  naturally  suggested  by  the  subject  before  us, 
and  which  have  reference  to  the  most  portentous  and 
perplexing  problem  exhibited  in  the  universe  of  God ! 

Wherever  we  move  in  life,  we  are  perpetually 
summoned  to  witness  scenes  of  melancholy,  and  to 
hear  the  cries  of  wretchedness — and  every  benevo- 
lent mind  is  instinctively  led  to  inquire,  why  is  it 
that  evil  is  thus  blended  with  the  works  of  God  ? 
What  benevolent  end  can  possibly  be  answered  by 
so  much  bitterness  and  sorrow  in  the  arrangement 
of  a  scheme  of  infinite  wisdom  and  goodness  ?  The 
Stoics  of  old,  in  defiance  of  reason  and  common- 
sense,  boldly  asserted  that  what  we  call  evil  is  not 


118      All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing. 

really  such,  and  that  it  was  the  part  of  wise  men  to 
despise  suffering  and  the  painful  vicissitudes  of  life. 
Some  infidel  philosophers  of  Christian  time,  while 
admitting  the  existence  of  evil  as  it  universally  pre- 
vails, have  agreed  in  regarding  it  as  inherent  in  the 
nature  of  things — as  existing  independently  of  the 
Divine  will,  and  as  being  that  which  no  omnipotence 
in  power  can  ever,  by  any  eventual  change  in  cir- 
cumstances, entirely  remove.  It  will  scarcely  be  ne- 
cessary for  me  to  prove  that  the  philosophy  cannot 
be  founded  in  truth,  which  is  hourly  contradicted  by 
the  lessons  of  universal  experience  ;  nor  can  that  be- 
lief be  better  entitled  to  respect  which  is  reconciled 
to  the  existence  of  evil,  only  because  it  supposes  God 
to  be  too  weak  to  counteract  it.  The  Christian  rev- 
elation stops  not  to  inquire  why  God  permitted  evil 
to  exist,  but  contents  itself  with  teaching  that  this 
very  perplexing  mixture  of  good  and  evil  is  a  pre- 
paratory contrivance  for  the  production  of  blessings 
far  exceeding  everything  that  our  darkened  faculties 
are  capable  of  conceiving.  It  asserts  simply  and  ex- 
plicitly that,  constituted  as  human  nature  is,  it  can 
only  be  prepared  for  its  advancement  to  the  spiritual 
perfection  and  glory  for  which  it  is  destined  by  a 
process  of  discipline  in  time ;  and  that  what  we  call 
evil  is  essentially  connected  with  such  a  system  of 
probation.  There  is  one  striking  analogy  between 
the  works  of  God  as  observed  in  nature  and  an- 
nounced in  revelation,  and  that  is,  that  the  Great 
Creator  never  proceeds  directly  to  His  end  by  an  in- 
stantaneous and  unrestrained  exertion  of  power ;  but 


All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing.      119 

that  in  His  wisdom  He  chooses  to  operate  gradually, 
indirectly,  and  through  the  agency  of  cause  and  ef- 
fect. So,  too,  has  He  ordained  that  positive  and  sub- 
stantial good  shall  rarely  accrue  to  man  without  some 
definite  effort  on  his  part ;  some  exertion,  some  toil, 
some  anxiety,  some  pain  or  peril  is  essential  to  win 
it  down.  The  body  is  connected  with  this  world  only, 
and  therefore  the  reward  of  toils  undertaken  for  the 
good  of  the  body  must  be  reaped  in  this  world.  We 
accordingly  find  that  in  all  temporal  concerns,  the 
connection  between  cause  and  effect  is  clearly  marked. 
Harvest  follows  seed-time,  and  industry  secures  the 
bread  that  sustains  life.  But  this  close  connection 
between  cause  and  effect — this  open  and  manifest 
link  between  labor  and  its  reward,  is  not  discoverable 
in  the  system  of  moral  retribution  under  which  we 
live ;  and  it  is  this  seeming  anomaly  in  the  moral 
government  of  God  that  has  constituted  the  insuper- 
able diflaculty  in  the  speculations  of  philosophy.  But 
how  simple  and  satisfactory  is  the  solution  afibrded 
by  the  Scriptures  of  Christian  truth  !  They  tell  us 
that  we  LIVE  not  only  for  time,  but  also  for  eter- 
nity, and  that  our  Creator  has  wisely  marked  our 
immortal  nature  by  placing  the  recompense  of  our  ef- 
forts to  do  His  will  beyond  the  narrow  and  perish- 
able limits  of  this  world.  The  reward  annexed  to 
every  expenditure  of  honest  effort  for  spiritual 
amelioration  is  as  certain  and  uniform  in  the  moral 
as  it  is  in  the  physical  world  ;  but  there  is  no  neces- 
sary reason  why  that  reward  should  be  always  pal- 
pable— should  be  always  seen  in  the  present  life. 


120      AU  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing. 

"We  are  expressly  directed  to  sow  in  time,  that  we 
may  reap  in  eternity !  And  thus  it  is  seen  that  the 
postponement  of  moral  retribution,  of  spiritual  re- 
wards, beyond  the  present  life,  so  far  from  marking 
any  deficiency  in  justice  or  mercy  on  the  part  of  the 
Creator,  or  any  indifference  to  the  moral  conduct  of 
His  creatures,  is  most  legibly  stamped  with  wisdom 
and  consistency. 

Let  us  never  faint,  my  brethren,  in  our  struggles 
after  imperishable  good.  If  Ave  reap  not  our  reward 
in  this  life,  let  us  steadily  remember  that  it  is  only 
because  we  are  passing  from  the  earth,  and  this  world 
is  too  gross,  too  transitory,  too  fading  and  narrow,  to 
produce  the  full  and  exliaustless  reward  for  the  death- 
less soul.  Let  us  cherish  the  conviction  of  the  in- 
finite goodness  of  the  Creator,  as  the  most  certain  of 
all  certain  truths.  Let  us  rely  upon  the  whole  con- 
nected course  of  htiman  events  as  abounding  in 
positive  sources  of  comfort  and  encouragement.  Let 
us  look  upon  every  vicissitude  of  life  as  a  means  to 
be  employed  by  infinite  wisdom  for  the  production 
of  one  grand  result,  one  determinate  purpose  of 
spiritual  happiness.  If  we  are  anxious  to  be  true, 
enlightened,  and  cheerful  Christians,  this  conviction 
should  never  for  cJne  moment  be  absent  from  our 
thoughts  ;  it  should  never  be  suffered  to  slumber  nor 
sleep.  This  world  is  no  theatre  of  unmixed  enjoy- 
ment ;  it  is  no  state  in  which  goodness  has  invariably 
its  own  reward,  and  wickedness  its  punishment.  But 
it  is  rather  a  system  wisely  and  wonderfully  contrived 
for  the  single  and  distinct  object  of  our  spiritual 


All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing.      121 

probation  and  discipline.  The  whole  moral  machinery 
of  life  is  directed  to  this  great  end.  There  is  not  a 
single  virtue  that  can  adorn  our  characters,  nor  one 
active  quality  of  the  mind,  nor  one  noble  feeling  of 
the  heart,  that  can  urge  us  on  towards  heaven,  but 
must  derive  its  efficiency  and  its  worth  from  that 
mixture  of  evil  with  which  God  has  attempered  the 
condition  of  the  w^orld.  Our  obedience,  were  there 
neither  difficulties  nor  temptations  to  seduce  us  from 
duty,  would  possess  no  worth.  Without  suffering, 
there  could  be  no  patience  ;  and  without  the  wretched- 
ness of  want  there  could  be  no  exercise  of  benev- 
olence; without  ignorance  and  uncertainty  there 
could  be  no  room  for  faith,  and  without  saddening 
experience  of  the  wokthlessness  of  all  woeldlt 
ENJOYMENT  there  could  be  no  longing  after  the  joys 
of  ETERNITY.  It  is  tlius  sccn  that  the  existence  of 
evil  is  employed  to  call  forth  the  loftiest  qualities  of 
our  nature.  It  is  the  light  of  Christianity  that  en- 
ables us  to  see  how  the  course  of  practical  training 
to  which  we  are  thus  subjected  is  most  admirably 
adapted  to  fit  us  for  that  wide  and  harmonious  circle 
of  willing  and  obedient  souls  who  are  to  derive 
happiness  forever  and  ever  from  the  great  centre  of 
purity  and  joy.  Our  Christian  discipline  is  efficient 
when  it  is  successful  in  breaking  down  the  rebellious 
suggestions  of  the  world  and  the  flesh— in  subduing 
our  evil  passions,  spiritualizing  our  aspirations,  and 
bending  every  proud  feeling  to  a  state  of  humble 
reliance  upon  the  revealed  will  of  our  Maker.  Let, 
then,   these  great   ends  but   be  accomplished,  and 

6 


122      All  our  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing. 

whether  our  allotment  be  to  pass  through  good  or 
evil  fortune,  as  believers  in  Christ  we  will  strive  to 
possess  our  souls  in  patience  and  in  the  strength  of 
God's  Holy  Spirit,  to  perform  each  task  that  awaits 
us  with  cheerfulness  and  hope. 

But  to  return  to  our  text :  Let  me  in  conclusion 
conjure  you  to  remember  that,  like  the  beggar  who 
sat  by  the  wayside,  we  are  all  in  a  spiritual  sense 
horn  Hind  I — blind  to  our  duty — blind  to  our  true 
source  of  happiness — blind  to  the  danger  that 
threatens  us, — and  blind  to  the  only  true  path  that 
can  conduct  us  to  eternal  safety. 

Christ  has  been  sent  into  the  world  for  our  resto- 
ration to  sight ;  He  is  the  light  of  the  world,  without 
which  no  man  can  see.  If  our  eyes  have  not  yet 
been  opened  to  the  light,  or  if  the  light  has  been 
proffered  us  and  we  have  refused  to  receive  it ;  if  we 
are  wandering,  benighted,  hopeless,  and  guideless  in 
the  wilderness  of  sin ;  if  we  can  see  nothing  behind 
to  comfort  or  console  us — nothing  before  to  allure 
or  to  terrify  us — nothing  to  charm  or  nothing  to 
alarm — oh !  then,  let  me  arrest  you  by  my  cries  of 
warning  and  entreaty.  Jesus  of  I^azareth  now 
passeth  by.  Oh !  call  upon  Him  while  He  is  near, 
seek  Him  while  He  may  be  found,  arrest  Him  in 
His  progress  by  your  prayers  for  help  and  salvation. 
He  is  ready  and  willing  to  hear,  He  is  mighty  to 
save,  and  has  promised  to  be  with  them  forever 
who  will  call  upon  Him  in  faith.  Come,  then,  let  us 
all  confess  before  Him  our  infirmities  and  blindness. 
He  will  raise  whatever  within  you  is  low.     He  will 


All  OUT  Trials  a  Source  of  Blessing.      123 

illumine  whatever  within  you  is  dark !  He  will 
point  you  to  the  avenue — straight  and  narrow,  and 
stained  with  His  own  blood  as  it  is — the  only  avenue 
which  can  lead  you  triumphantly  to  the  splendid 
portals  of  immortal  renown  !  He,  too,  will  give  you 
strength,  and  fire  you  with  confidence;  and  when 
thus  enlightened  and  animated,  with  the  clearness  of 
an  eagle's  eye  and  the  steadiness  of  an  eagle's  flight, 
you  may  wing  your  way  towards  the  eternal  source 
of  light  and  truth  and  happiness ! 


THE    CHRISTIAN  ARMOR. 


"  Wherefore  take  unto  you  the  whole  armor  of  Ood,  that  ye  may  be 
able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  and  having  done  all,  to  stand." 

Ephesians  6fh,  ISth. 

|N  the  Scriptures,  the  life  of  man  is  con- 
stantly represented  as  a  condition  of  cease- 
less conflict.  From  the  dawn  of  reason 
to  the  night  of  the  grave  are  we  required 
to  bear  our  armor,  and  be  always  on  the  watch"  for 
the  assault  of  foes  the  most  insidious  and  deadly. 

When,  in  the  humility  of  faith,  we  bring  the  infant 
of  days  into  the  presence  of  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  and 
seal  him  with  the  signet  of  the  Great  Captain  in  whose 
service  he  is  thus  enlisted,  it  is  in  token  that  here- 
after he  "  shall  fight  manfully  under  His  banner, 
and  continue  Christ's  faithful  soldier  and  servant 
until  his  life's  end."  And  it  is,  too,  in  keeping  with 
this  view  of  our  condition,  that  God  is  everywhere 
represented  as  having  most  abundantly  provided  the 
soldiers  of  the  cross  with  the  means  of  present 
security  and  the  instruments  of  eternal  triumph. 

In  the  eloquent  chapter  from  which  the  text  is 
taken,  St.   Paul,  after   admonishing    the  Ephesian 


The  Christian  Armor.  125 

believers  of  the  perils  to  which  they  were  exposed 
from  spiritual  and  unseen  foes,  goes  on  to  exhort 
them  to  array  themselves  in  the  perfect  and  invul- 
nerable armor  which  God  has  so  graciously  placed 
within  their  reach,  so  that  they  might  stand  erect 
and  unharmed  amid  all  the  shafts  of  their  malevolent 
and  invisible  destroyers.  "  Wherefore,"  says  he, 
"  take  unto  you  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  ye 
may  be  able  to  withstand  in  the  evil  day,  and  having 
done  all,  to  stand."  "  Stand,  therefore,  having  your 
loins  GIRT  ABOUT  with  TRUTH."  The  allusion  here  is  to 
the  GraDLE,  a  most  important  part  of  ancient  armor, 
because  it  connected  and  compacted  all  the  other 
pieces ;  and  the  propriety  of  the  figure  will  be  per- 
ceived when  we  reflect  that  the  only  bond  of  har- 
monious union  in  the  points  of  Christian  character, 
and  the  only  ground  upon  which  we  can  rest  for 
consistency  and  firmness,  is  a  deep  and  intelligent 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  principles  we  profess. 
The  Christian  must  stand  encircled  by  the  imper- 
vious panoply  of  truth.  He  must  be  true  to  him- 
self; without  guile  and  without  hypocrisy  ;  with- 
out specious  and  hollow  pretensions ;  without  doubt 
or  misgiving  as  to  the  honesty  of  his  own  direct  and 
simple  purposes  ;  and  then  must  he  rest  in  the  firm 
and  fast  conviction  that  God  is  true — a  living  and 
unfailing  "  God  of  truth  ;"  true  in  the  covenant  of 
His  glorious  promises,  and  true  in  the  threatenings 
of  His  writteii  word.  Yea,  he  will  thus  stand,  having 
all  the  parts  of  his  Christian  armor  compacted  and 
knit  together,  by  the  unyielding  and  Kfe-giving  per- 


126  TJie  Christian  Armor. 

suasion  that  the  eye  of  the  all-searching  God  of  truth 
is  upon  him  ;  that  Christ  is  a  faitliful  and  true  wit- 
ness of  all  that  has  been  done  for  man,  and  of  all 
that  is  now  required  for  him  to  do  ;  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  a  "  Spirit  of  truth,"  stirring  up  and  persuad- 
ing all  men  to  what  is  true,  pure,  and  holy. 

But  after  being  thus  "  girt  about  with  truth,"  the 
Christian  must  put  on  the  "  breastplate  of  righteous- 
ness." Now,  the  object  of  a  breastplate  in  armor 
is  to  protect  the  most  vital  part  of  the  body  ;  and  it 
ought,  therefore,  to  be  composed  of  materials  wrought 
with  the  utmost  care,  and  polished  and  tempered  with 
the  highest  degree  of  skill,  so  that  the  weapons  of  the 
enemy  may  fall  from  it  pointless  and  harmless  at  our 
feet.  So,  too,  it  is  required  of  the  Christian  that  he 
should  toil  most  anxiously  to  prepare  his  breastplate 
of  righteousness,  so  that  when  the  dark  and  evil  day 
may  come,  he  may  not  be  found  utterly  naked  and 
defenceless.  But  while  it  is  thus  required  of  him  to 
toil  vigilantly  and  vigorously  at  his  work,  after  the 
pattern  which  has  been  set  for  him  by  Christ,  yet, 
in  tlie  end,  he  will  find  that  neither  his  own  strength 
nor  his  own  skill  will  avail  him  to  bring  the  "  breast- 
plate "  to  the  measure  of  perfection  required ;  and 
he  will  rejoice  to  seek  for  the  aid  and  direction  of 
One  who  is  higher,  wiser,  and  better  than  he  is. 
Then  the  righteousness  in  which  he  will  hasten  to 
cover  himself,  will  be  the  righteousness  of  that  One 
who  alone  is  mighty  to  save.  The  Prophet  of  old, 
in  describing  the  Christ — the  Saviour,  affirmed 
of  Him,  that  "  He  put  on  righteousness  as  a  breast- 


The  Christicm  Armor.  127 

plate," — and  so,  too,  must  we  seek  for  Christ's  right- 
eonsuess,  after  having  toiled  to  the  utmost  to  follow 
the  example  he  has  left  us, — we  must,  I  say,  betake 
ourselves  to  Him  for  the  righteousness  which  alone 
can  avail  us  in  the  hour  of  trial.  Only  let  us  thus 
fly  to  him,  and  thus  trust  in  Him,  and  we  shall  possess 
a  breastplate  against  which  the  arrows  of  the  enemy, 
however  admirably  they  may  be  aimed,  will  fall  power- 
less as  the  drops  from  the  clouds  upon  the  roof  above 
us. 

But  it  has  well  been  said,  that  all  warfare  is  not 
open  and  visible ;  nor  are  the  weapons  employed  by 
the  enemy  those  only  which  are  aimed  directly  at 
the  more  conspicuous  and  vulnerable  parts.  The 
"girdle"  may  be  absolutely  necessary  to  consolidate 
the  armor,  and  the  "breastplate"  may  protect  the 
heart,  but  yet  snares  may  be  set  for  the  feet,  so  that 
he  who  treads  heedlessly  may  be  entangled  in  his 
walk,  and  therefore  the  soldiers  of  the  Cross  are  re- 
quired to  have  their  "  feet  shod  with  the  preparation 
of  the  Gospel  of  peace." 

A  Christian,  my  brethren,  may  be  entirely  sincere 
in  his  profession  ;  he  may  confide  in  his  Redeemer's 
righteousness,  and  not  in  his  own — yet  his  Christian 
consistency  may  be  often  broken  in  upon,  and  his 
advancement  in  divine  life  impeded,  unless  he  be 
cautious  to  take  with  him,  wherever  his  feet  may 
carry  him,  the  spirit  and  temper  of  the  Gospel  of 
peace. 

The  Gospel  we  know  is  a  Gospel  of  peace  in  more 
senses  than  one.     It  speaks  peace  from  God  to  man, 


128  The  Christian  Armor. 

and  it  is  the  principle  of  unity  and  the  bond  of 
peace  between  man  and  man.  It  proclaims  God's 
readiness  to  forgive,  and  sets  forth  the  terms  of  re- 
conciliation. It  calls  upon  its  professors  to  "  follow 
peace  always  "  and  by  "  all  means,"  in  our  families, 
in  the  Church,  and  in  the  world. 

I  only  ask,  then,  that  the  Christian  should  take  with 
him  in  all  his  walks  and  conversation,  the  true  and 
full  spirit  of  the  "  Gospel  of  peace,"  and  I  am  sure 
of  his  rising  superior  to  those  sordid,  selfish,  and  all- 
contracting  feelings  which  act  upon  religious  char- 
acter as  the  frost  upon  the  opening  blossom,  and  are 
everywhere  blighting  the  buds  and  the  ripening  fruits 
of  human  charity.  Not  only  so,  but  he  will  have, 
also,  that  sense  of  peace  which  results  from  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  security  in  which  he  moves,  who 
reposes  his  trust  always  on  the  everlasting  arm  of  the 
One  mighty  to  save ;  he  walks  amid  thorns  and 
briers,  over  traps  and  pitfalls  as  one  who  is  secure- 
ly SHOD,  and  feels  that  he  is  in  no  danger  from  the 
treacherous  character  of  the  soil  on  which  he  treads ; 
*'  for  the  ways  of  the  Lord  are  right,  and  the  just 
shall  walk  in  them,  but  the  transgressors  shall  fall 
therein." 

I  come  next  to  that  part  of  a  Christian's  armor 
which  is,  if  possible,  even  more  important  than  the 
girdle,  the  breastplate,  or  the  covering  for  the  feet. 
"  Above  all,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  take  the  shield  of 
FAITH,  wherewith  ye  shall  be  able  to  quench  all  the 
finery  darts  of  the  wicked."  The  great  enemy,  my 
brethren,  with  whom  we  have  to  contend,  is  provided 


The  Christian  Armor.  129 

with  instruments  of  attack,  differing  in  their  charac- 
ter and  in  the  effect  wliich  they  produce,  according 
to  the  uses  to  which  they  are  applied  ;  and  he  al- 
ways applies  them  with  the  most  exquisite  skill. 
Some  of  these  weapons,  from  their  more  dangerous 
and  penetrating  power,  are  expressively  called  "fiery 
darts."  From  the  attacks  of  these  no  believer  must 
ever  expect  to  be  entirely  free.  The  evil  heart,  lead- 
ing to  doubt  and  distrust,  and  to  the  most  plausible 
sophistry  to  excuse  the  strong  leadings  of  its  wicked 
passions — this  evil  heart,  however  it  may  be  disci- 
plined, can  never  be  rooted  out  or  destroyed  as  long 
as  life  continues  to  be  a  season  of  trial.  Now,  it  is 
through  this  evil  heart  that  the  enemy  finds  room  to 
aim  his  keenest  shafts.  At  the  moment  that  the 
slightest  circumstance  occurs  to  shake  our  trust  in 
God,  he  takes  instant  hold  on  the  advantage  to  press 
his  exquisitely  skiJled  attacks.  "We  have  only,  then, 
my  brethren,  to  watch  with  unslumbering  eye  the 
secret  workings  of  our  own  hearts,  and  as  soon  as  we 
are  able  to  discover  the  very  slightest  temptation  to 
doubt  that  revelation  which  God  has  made  of  Him- 
self as  the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost — to 
doubt  the  severity  of  the  Divine  displeasure  against 
sin,  or  to  distrust,  on  the  other  hand,  the  readiness 
of  God  to  forgive  and  to  accept  the  sinful,  then  let 
us  promptly  realize  the  danger  to  which  we  are  ex- 
posed, and  let  us  retreat  at  once  behind  our  "  shield 
of  faith ;  "  then,  as  fiery  as  may  be  the  darts  with 
which  our  enemy  may  continue  to  assail  us,  there  is 

no  fear  but  that  they  will  all  be  quenched,  and  fall 

6* 


130  The  Christian  Armor. 

powerless  on  our  right  hand  and  on  our  left.  But 
then  the  faith  through  wliich  we  are  thus  secure 
must  be  implicit  and  unbounded.  "We  must  learn  to 
trust  God  with  all  our  souls.  We  are  never  for  one 
moment  to  harbor  either  doubt  or  suspicion.  We  are 
to  repose  in  the  fullest  and  most  confiding  assurance 
that  He,  who  has  made  us  and  always  preserved  us, 
can  do  better  for  us  than  we  can  do  for  ourselves. 
Far  different,  yea,  very  far,  must  our  faith  be  from 
that  which  too  often  passes  current  in  the  world  ;  a 
mere  listless,  heartless,  negative,  uncontrolling  notion, 
which,  so  far  from  oifering  any  effectual  resistance  to 
the  arrows  of  the  enemy,  is  sure  to  yield  and  be 
borne  away  by  the  first  vigorous  assault  that  is  made 
upon  it.  The  faith  we  need  is  that  which  keeps  us 
steadily  in  the  view  of  the  All-gracious  Disposer  of 
our  lot ;  and  while  it  enables  us  to  see  and  feel  how 
completely  our  thoughts  and  doings  are  known  by 
God,  so,  too,  does  it  enable  us  to  trace  the  cause  of 
all  present  evils  to  that  sinful  and  rebellious  nature 
which  needs  to  be  disciplined  and  weaned  from  its 
idols,  and  brought  to  the  true  and  living  source  of  its 
happiness.  It  enables  us  to  see  that  when  the  Father 
chastens  the  children  of  His  providing  care  with 
earthly  sorrow,  it  is  only  because  He  loves  them. 
And  it  enables  us,  too,  to  see  that  as  our  exalted 
Saviour  has  redeemed  us  from  the  present  evil 
world,  so,  too,  is  He  ever  ready  in  His  loving-kind- 
ness to  succor  all  those  who  are  tried  and  tempted ; 
and  to  assure  us,  in  the  fulness  of  His  compassion, 
that  there  is  no  stain  of  guilt  so  deep  that  it  cannot 


The  Christian  Armor.  131 

be  washed  out  by  His  blood,  and  no  aggregate  of 
iniquity  so  weighty  that  He  cannot  and  will  not  en- 
dure it  on  our  behalf.  All  of  these  things  our 
faith  sets  before  us  in  a  light  so  clear,  so  vivid,  and 
so  strong,  that  our  souls  are  raised  superior  to  every 
present  evil,  and  made  more  than  conquerors  over 
every  foe  to  their  peace.  Thus  it  is  that  our  faith 
becomes  the  impenetrable  shield,  against  which  no 
darts  of  the  wicked,  however  fiery  or  poisoned 
with  malice,  shall  ever  be  able  to  prevail. 

But  I  must  pass  on  to  the  next  piece  in  the 
perfect  armor  in  which  God  ofiers  to  clothe  the 
Christian.  "  Take,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  the  helmet  of 
salvation."  The  apostle  will  himself  explain  his 
meaning  more  fully  if  we  will  refer  to  a  correspond- 
ing passage  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  where 
he  writes,  "  and  for  an  helmet  the  hope  of  salvation." 
The  Christian's  hope  of  salvation  is  then  the  helmet, 
which,  so  long  as  he  keeps  it  bright  and  strong,  no 
sword  shall  ever  cleave  nor  arrow  penetrate.  Like  the 
breastplate  that  covers  the  heart,  it  is  made  up  of  the 
perfect  and  unyielding  righteousness  of  Christ,  and 
it  rests  on  the  word  of  Him  who  cannot  lie,  on  the 
promise  of  Him  who  cannot  deceive,  and  on  the  oath 
of  Him  who  can  never  forget  nor  fail. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  piece  with  which  the 
Apostle  exhorts  us  to  be  provided  as  an  instrument 
of  defence  and  means  of  safety  :  "  The  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God." 

Yes,  soldiers  of  the  cross,  if  you  would  indeed  be 
victorious  in  the  arduous  and  awful  conflict  to  which 


132  The  Christian  Armor. 

you  are  called,  you  must  learn  to  wield  the  same 
weapon  which  was  used  by  the  great  Captain  of 
your  salvation  in  His  well-known  contest  with  the 
prince  of  the  power  of  the  air  and  the  leader  of  the 
hosts  of  darkness.  This  sword  has  come  from  the 
arsenal  of  heaven,  and  is  of  celestial  temper  and 
power;  it  was  wrought  by  God  himself,  and  it  is 
impossible  that  any  weapon  brought  against  it  should 
prove  stronger  or  better  for  the  uses  to  which  we  are 
required  to  apply  it. 

The  sword  of  the  Spirit  is  the  word  of  God,  and 
this  sword  must  every  Christian  learn  to  use.  You 
observe  that  the  Christian  must  not  only  read  "  the 
word,"  but  he  must  accustom  himself  to  apply  it  to 
all  the  ever-varying  necessities  of  his  life,  to  the 
claims  of  business,  and  the  seductive  calls  of  pleasure. 
Weak  as  he  may  be  in  himself,  if  he  will  only  study 
the  true  power  with  which  this  sword  of  the  spirit 
was  designed  to  arm  him,  he  will  have  nothing  to 
fear,  although  the  combined  hosts  of  hell  were  to 
direct  all  their  concentrated  eftbrts  of  malignity, 
subtlety,  and  power  against  him. 

You  are  to  go  forth  to  the  fight  against  principali- 
ties and  powers  of  darkness  with  this  sword  of  the 
Spirit  ever  ready  for  use,  and  your  heart  ever  ready 
to  be  lifted  up  in  prayer ;  then  will  the  strength  of 
the  God  of  Hosts  be  yours,  and  you  will  hear  His 
voice  whispering  those  blessed  words :  "  Fear  not, 
for  I  am  with  thee ;  be  not  dismayed,  for  I  am  thy 
God.  Yea,  I  will  help  thee — yea,  I  will  uphold 
thee  with  the  right  hand  of  my  righteousness." 


The  Christian  Armor,  133 

Such,  then,  is  the  armor  with  which  the  believer 
must  stand  clothed  as  in  a  panoply  of  strength,  if  he 
would  withstand  even  to  the  end  of  the  evil  day  of 
life ;  and  if,  after  the  enemies  of  his  salvation  have 
directed  against  him  their  fiercest  assaults,  and  after 
he  has  done  all  that  life  was  charged  with,  he  would 
still  be  found  standing. 

My  brethren,  the  period  of  our  warfare  is  called 
by  the  Apostle  an  "  evil  day,"  and  an  evil  day  will 
the  best  and  strongest  of  us  most  assuredly  find  it. 
Life  is  at  the  best  a  checkered  and  uncertain  scene ; 
everywhere  subject  to  change  and  disappointment. 
Bright  and  beautiful  as  the  morning  sun  may  be,  yet 
before  the  noon  the  horizon  may  be  overcast  with 
clouds,  and  the  evening  sky  veiled  in  darkness  and 
in  gloom.  To-day,  the  blessings  of  Providence  may 
be  descending  upon  us  in  an  uninterrupted  and  un- 
mingled  stream,  and  we  may  be  floating  upon  a  cur- 
rent so  placid  and  so  noiseless,  that  we  are  scarcely 
sensible  of  our  progress.  But,  how  sudden  and  how 
sad  are  the  changes  which  are  perpetually  coming 
over  scenes  like  these.  Calamity,  sorrow,  and  sick- 
ness take  the  place  of  joy,  gladness,  and  health. 
"  Beauty  is  changed  to  ashes,  the  oil  of  joy  into 
mourning,  and  the  garment  of  praise  into  the  spirit 
of  heaviness !  "  As  the  aspects  of  the  heavens  are 
clouded  and  changed,  so  does  the  Providence  of  God 
change  the  hearts  and  the  faces  of  men.  There  is 
no  possible  condition  of  our  being,  and  no  vicissitude 
in  the  ever-varying  phases  of  our  lot  which  does  not 
bring  with  it  circumstances  to  test  our  Christian 


134  The  Christian  Armor. 

vigilance,  and  the  steadfastness  of  our  faith.  It  is 
precisely  at  such  seasons  of  trial,  whether  in  the 
deceitful  calm  of  prosperity,  or  in  the  sinking  of  our 
spirits  under  adversity,  that  the  assaults  of  the  enemy 
are  most  likely  to  be  made.  If,  then,  we  would  that 
our  hearts  should  stand  fast  and  firm,  no  matter  how 
thickly  the  darts  of  the  dreaded  one  may  be  falling 
around  us,  let  us  feel  that  we  cannot  sustain  or  keep 
OURSELVES,  but  that  there  is  One,  and  He  the  Al- 
mighty, who  can  and  will  preserve  us,  if  we  will  only 
employ  the  means  of  safety  to  which  He  points  us. 
God  provides  the  armor,  but  we  must  put  it  on. 
God  provides  the  armor ;  but  if  we  suffer  it  to  lie 
unused  by  us,  and  trust  to  the  chance  of  arming  our- 
selves when  the  hour  of  conflict  arrives,  we  may  dis- 
cover too  late  that  the  fiery  darts  of  the  Evil  One  can- 
not be  escaped  from  by  the  careless  and  slumbering 
soldier,  and  that  they  will  enkindle  a  flame  which 
can  never  be  quenched.  "Put  on  therefore"  in 
season,  the  "  whole  armor  of  God,"  and  be  not,  I 
conjure  you,  the  less  anxious  to  clothe  yourself  with 
it,  only  because  you  do  not  yet  feel  the  necessity  for 
it.  Remember,  that  the  "wiles"  of  your  insidious 
foe  may  at  this  moment  be  exerted,  and  his  devices 
extending  themselves  on  all  sides  of  you;  he  may 
now  be  busy  weaving  the  web  which  is  to  enthral 
you,  and  you  may  find  yourself  encircled  and  fatally 
entrapped  when  you  least  suspect  it.  Remember,  too, 
that  the  armor  of  Christ  once  put  on,  must  never 
again  be  put  off  while  life  lasts ;  but  every  part  must 
be  kept  bright  and  sound,  and  you  must  ever  be  on 


The  Christian  Armor.  135 

your  guard  to  defend,  for  your  enemy  is  ever  on  the 
watch  to  attack.  By  day  and  by  night  must  your 
preparation  be  complete.  Like  the  builders  of  the 
temple,  in  the  olden  time,  you  must  work  by  day  as 
if  you  were  never  secure  from  harm,  and  at  night 
must  you  repose  with  your  armor  on,  and  your  drawn 
sword  at  your  side,  lest  in  the  unsuspecting  and  un- 
guarded hours  of  darkness,  Satan  should  inflict  a 
deadly  blow.  Nor  must  you  ever  hope  to  lay  aside 
your  watchfulness,  until  the  God  of  your  salvation 
shall  send  His  messenger  to  tell  you  that  your  war- 
fare is  accomplished,  and  that  He  is  waiting  to  wel- 
come you  to  the  home  of  eternal  triumph  which  He 
has  prepared  for  you! 

But  now,  my  brethren,  apart  from  figures  of 
speech,  or  metaphorical  illustration,  permit  me  to 
say  with  all  plainness,  that  the  design  of  St,  Paul 
was  to  teach  us,  that  the  great,  all-controlling,  elevat- 
ing principles  of  our  religion  must  be  so  complete- 
ly embraced  by  us,  and  so  entirely  adopted  as  our 
habitual  and  universal  rule  of  life,  that  every  eye 
should  see  that  we  go  forth  to  every  duty  and  every 
enjoyment  under  their  protecting  influence.  They 
must  encase,  as  it  were,  our  whole  being  ;  but 
at  the  same  time,  sit  upon  us  so  easily  and  grace- 
fully as  to  free  us  from  all  stifiness  and  restraint. 
The  outward  and  celestial  habit  which  is  thus  exhib- 
ited, must  indicate  the  form  and  shape  which  the 
inward  spirit  has  assumed.  It  must  be  the  index  of 
its  highest  feelings  and  purest  and  best  sensibilities. 
My  brethren,  it  is  only  when  the  principles  of  our 


136  The  Christian  Armor. 

religion,  have  thus  become,  as  it  were,  identified 
with  our  whole  being,  so  that  they  can  never  again 
be  separated  from  us,  that  we  can  hope  to  move  on- 
ward to  our  long  home,  unharmed  by  the  attacks  of 
temptation,  before  which  so  many  thousand  of  our 
fellow-beings  are  hourly  falling  to  rise  no  more. 
It  is  only  when  thus  influenced  that  the  dark  storm 
of  earthly  affliction  will  beat  upon  us  in  vain  ;  and 
the  heavier  that  the  blows  are  made  to  fall,  so  much 
the  more  will  our  powers  of  resistance  be  increased. 
While  the  bitter  tears  of  anguish  rise  in  the  eye  of 
the  bereaved,  so,  too,  will  the  clearest,  strongest, 
most  beautiful,  and  most  consoling  thoughts  come 
thronging  into  our  hearts  as  so  many  bright  messen- 
gers of  love,  from  the  God  of  all  truth  and  all  con- 
solation. 

Since,  therefore,  death  is  an  enemy  whose  fatal 
dart  is  ever  poised  before  us ;  since  sin  is  the  foe 
whose  poisoned  arrow  is  ever  fitted  to  the  string ; 
and  since  Satan  is  the  seducing  spirit,  who  never 
relaxes  his  vigilance  in  watching  and  plotting  to 
bring  you  within  the  power  of  evil, — oh,  then,  if 
you  would  be  safe,  hasten  to  clothe  yourself  in  "  the 
whole  armor  of  God,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  with- 
stand in  the  evil  day,  and  having  done  all,  to  stand !" 


TEE  CRUCIFIXION. 


'•'' Daughters  of  Jerusalem^  weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for  yourselves 
and  for  your  children." 

Luke^d,  28th. 

HIS,  my  brethren,  is  the  language  of  con- 
solation, not  of  command.  It  is  an  expres- 
sion of  exquisite  tenderness,  not  of  stern 
reproof.  Our  Lord  had  been  arrested  by 
the  minions  of  perverted  power;  He  had  passed 
through  the  mockery  of  a  public  trial ;  He  had  been 
cruelly  derided ;  He  had  been  inhumanly  scourged ; 
and  was  now  passing  from  the  hall  of  justice,  to  en- 
counter a  cruel  and  ignominious  death;  He  was 
faint  from  the  oppressive  burden  of  the  cross  they 
had  compelled  Him  to  bear ;  and  He  was  stained  and 
dripping  with  the  blood  from  His  lacerated  body.  In 
this  extreme  of  misery  He  turned  to  look  upon  the 
lawless  and  inflamed  mob  which  followed  Him,  when 
among  them  He  recognized  some  of  His  own  faithful 
female  followers,  bathed  in  tears.  Always  alive  to 
the  sufferings  of  humanity.  He  appeared  for  the  mo- 
ment regardless  of  His  own  sorrows,  and  in  the  warmth 
of  His  commisei'ation,  He  endeavored  to  alleviate, 


138  The  Crucifixion. 

by  diverting  their  grief.  Daughters  of  Jerusalem, 
weep  not  for  me,  but  command  your  tears  and  your 
fortitude  for  the  trials  that  await  you,  from  the  storm 
that  now  lowers  over  your  devoted  city.  No,  my 
brethren,  our  Lord  forbids  us  not  to  weep  for  him. 
No,  it  can  never  be  that  He  in  whom  our  nature  was 
perfect — He  who  knew  all  the  sympathies  and  sor- 
rows of  humanity — He  who  Himself  so  pathetically 
deplored  the  desolation  of  the  City  of  the  Temple — 
He  who  "  saw  Jerusalem,"  and  wept  over  it — He 
who  bedewed  with  His  tears  the  tomb  of  His  friend 
— He  who,  while  He  hung  in  the  cold  agony  of  death 
upon  the  cross,  was  still  thoughtful  of  the  necessities 
of  His  bereaved  and  wailing  mother — it  cannot  be 
that  He  would  wish  to  extinguish  the  sensibilities  of 
the  soul !  It  was  natural,  my  brethren,  that  the 
daughters  of  Jerusalem  sliould  weep,  when  they  were 
called  to  witness  the  sufferings  and  sad  destiny  of 
Him  who  had  lived  only  to  bless  them ;  who  had 
trained  their  children  for  Heaven ;  who  had  restored 
them  from  disease  and  rescued  for  them  from  death 
their  fathers  and  friends,  their  husbands  and  brothers. 
And  it  is  natural  for  us,  too,  to  be  sorrowful,  when 
we  bring  fairly  before  our  minds  these  melancholy 
circumstances.  When  we  reflect  upon  the  awful  suf- 
ferings and  death  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  when  we 
remember  the  high  errand  of  love  upon  which  He  came 
in  the  garb  of  humanity;  when  we  consider  His  pure 
and  harmless  life ;  and  then,  when  we  travel  back  in 
imagination  to  the  scene  of  His  sufferings,  and  behold 
Him  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane,  with  a  frame  dis- 


The  Crucifixion.  139 

torted  and  convulsed  by  agony ;  when  we  see  Him 
betrayed  by  a  wretched  hireling  in  the  person  of  His 
own  familiar  friend — one  who  had  been  cherished  in 
His  bosom,  and  should  have  been  unto  Him  as  a 
brother  ;  when  we  witness  his  dignified  endurance 
of  the  scoffs  and  contumely,  the  insults  and  cruelty  of 
His  infuriated  enemies;  when  we  see  Him  con- 
demned to  death  by  the  very  judge  who  had  declared 
Him  guilty  of  no  crime ;  when  we  see  His  temples 
pierced  and  lacerated  with  the  thorns  with  which, 
in  unfeeling  derision,  they  had  crowned  His  brow ; 
when  we  see  Him  drenched  in  His  own  blood,  and 
staggering  under  the  weight  of  the  cross  they  had 
laid  upon  Him;  when  we  see  Him  unresistingly 
extended  upon  that  cross,  and  His  hands  and  His  feet 
transfixed  with  nails;  when  we  hear  the  piercing 
tones  with  which,  in  anguish,  He  prayed  to  His 
Father ;  when,  I  say,  we  witness  all  this — when  we 
see  the  excruciating  tortures  of  the  man,  endured 
with  the  sublime  tranquillity  of  a  God,  it  is  natural 
for  us  to  be  sorrowful !  But  then  it  is  not  meet,  my 
brethren,  that  these  mournful  considerations  should 
entirely  possess  our  souls,  for  the  sufferings  of  the 
Son  of  God  are  ended!  Our  great  Emanuel  has  tri- 
umphed gloriously  !  It  was  not,  however,  until  He 
had  robbed  death  of  its  sting ;  it  was  not  until  He 
had  deprived  the  grave  of  its  victory ;  it  was  not 
until  He  had  bound  in  everlasting  chains  the  powers 
of  darkness,  that  he  exclaimed  in. rapture,  "It  is 
finished ! " 

In  all  the  majesty  of  His  own  unaided  greatness, 


140  The  Crucifixion. 

Christ  achieved  the  work  of  our  redemption.  He  de- 
spoiled His  enemies  and  wrought  out  a  pardon  for  the 
offending  children  of  men,  while  he  upheld  the  pillars 
of  Jehovah's  throne,  and  preserved  the  harmony  of 
Jehovah's  attributes.  He  then  ascended  with  a 
retinue  of  adoring  angels  to  His  own  throne  in  the 
heavens.  He  forever  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Majesty  on  high.  Yea,  my  brethren,  as  a  re- 
turning Conqueror,  with  all  His  captive  and  ransomed 
millions.  He  entered  heaven's  everlasting  doors, 
while  love  ineffable  beamed  from  His  father's  face, 
and  ten  thousand  hallelujahs  sent  forth  in  loud  har- 
mony, rang  through  the  eternal  regions.  We  will, 
then,  no  longer  weep  for  Him,  but  we  may  weep  for 
ourselves  and  for  our  children. 

We  will  separate  our  thoughts  and  affections  from 
the  occupations  and  pursuits  of  the  world,  and  we 
will  strive  to  form  some  proper  conception  of  the 
dark  enormity,  of  the  mysterious  nature  of  sin.  We 
will  endeavor  to  realize  the  deep  malignity  which 
must  attach  to  offences  against  an  infinitely  holy 
God,  when  it  was  necessary  to  expiate  them  by  so 
infinite  a  sacrifice.  And  then,  my  brethren,  we  will 
in  faithful  review  assemble  around  us  our  numberless 
deficiencies,  our  sins  of  infirmity,  and  our  sins  of 
presumption,  and  we  will  weep  for  ourselves. 

If,  my  brethren,  we  would  but  reflect  upon  the 
graces  which  shone  so  resplendently  in  the  Son  of  God ; 
His  meekness.  His  humility.  His  forgiving  temper, 
His  boundless  charity.  His  ardent  desire  to  promote 
the  happiness  of  men,  and  His  inextinguishable  zeal 


The  Crucifixion,  141 

to  extend  the  glory  of  God :  and  then,  if  we  will 
but  be  feithfiil  to  our  own  hearts,  and  seriously  con- 
sider how  much  of  impurity  and  imperfection  has  been 
associated  with  our  very  best  services; — how  often  we 
have  relaxed  the  vigilance  that  became  us ;  how  often 
we  have  suffered  ourselves  to  be  engrossed  with  the 
cares  and  the  pursuits  of  this  world,  with  its  wealth 
and  its  pleasures  that  perish,  and  its  honors  that  fade 
away ;  how  often  we  have  slumbered  in  indolence 
and  inglorious  sloth,  when  we  should  have  been 
active  in  the  duties  that  fairly  awaited  us  ;  when, 
my  brethren,  we  consider  how  entirely  we  have 
fallen  short  of  our  duty  to  ourselves,  our  fellow-men, 
and  to  God — oh !  when  we  look  back  upon  the  days 
that  are  forever  gone,  and  compare  what  we  are  with 
what  we  might  have  been,  when  we  compare  what 
we  have  done  with  what  we  might  have  accom- 
plished,— who  is  there  of  us  who  would  not  weep  for 
himself? 

But  we  will  weep  not  only  for  ourselves,  we  will 
look  abroad  upon  the  face  of  human  society,  and  we 
will  weep  for  the  children  of  our  common  nature. 
As  disciples  of  the  Son  of  God,  will  we  weep  over 
the  infatuation  which  would  seem  to  have  possessed 
so  many  of  the  great  family  of  men  with  regard  to 
their  immortal  interests.  Yea,  we  may  well  mourn 
over  the  contempt  and  indifference  with  which  they 
receive  the  great  salvation  that  has  been  purchased 
for  them !  Yes,  we  will  mourn,  when  we  reflect 
upon  the  weight  of  punishment  which  might  justly 
fall  from  the  hands  of  a  righteous  and  merciful  God 


142  The  Crucifixion. 

upon  the  heads  of  those  who  have  added  to  the 
criminality  of  violating  His  law,  the  guilt,  too,  of 
despising  the  saving  provisions  of  His  Gospel  of 
Grace  ! 

My  brethren,  the  voice  of  nature  in  every  breast, 
and  the  history  of  man  in  every  age,  will  tell  us  of 
his  mournful  infirmity ;  of  a  perpetual  tendency  to 
evil,  of  sad  debasement,  and  of  the  most  positive 
and  wilful  criminality.  Now,  if  there  be  any 
settled  and  immutable  principle  of  right  and  wrong, 
then  it  is  certain  that  no  creature,  disfigured  by 
crime  and  pollution,  can  ever  expect  to  be  received 
into  that  kingdom  whose  laws  proceed  from  a  Being 
of  infinite  purity  and  perfection.  A  perfect  law  must 
require  a  perfect  obedience  ;  and  whatever  falls  short 
of  obedience  is  crime.  It  is,  then,  for  the  hosts  of 
criminals  around  us  of  every  sex,  age,  and  degree, 
who  are  without  remedy  and  without  refuge  from 
the  frowns  of  insulted  Justice,  to  think  of  these 
things ! 

My  brethren,  it  is  for  each  one  and  all  of  us  to 
think  of  these  things,  because  we  must  see  and  feel 
that  upon  each  and  every  one  of  us,  according  to  all 
the  conclusions  we  can  draw  from  the  dictates  of 
nature  and  the  perfections  of  God,  must  the  sen- 
tence of  guilt  and  condemnation  be  pronounced, 
unless  we  will  consent  to  avail  ourselves  of  some  in- 
terposition of  infinite  mercy  in  our  behalf.  The  stern 
and  unyielding  law  of  right  is  frowning  over  us, 
and  from  every  suggestion  of  reason  we  turn  away 
in  trembling  and  in  doubt.     We  see  that  a  measure 


The  Crucifixion.  143 

of  obedience  is  required,  to  which  no  mortal  can 
hope  to  rise ;  and  that  we  must  be  left  to  the 
wretchedness  of  guilt,  and  the  rigorous  exactions 
of  justice.  We  see  that  sorrow  for  the  consequences 
which  are  to  follow  upon  crime,  are  nowhere  deem- 
ed sufficient  to  amend  a  violated  law.  Much  less 
can  such  sorrow  entitle  us  to  transcendent  rewards 
from  the  Lawgiver,  We  see  from  the  very  im- 
perfection of  our  nature,  from  which  our  sins  origi- 
nate, that  our  repentance,  too,  must  necessarily  be 
imperfect  and  incomplete,  and  can  never,  therefore, 
be  rested  upon  to  satisfy  the  demands  of  infinite 
perfection.  God  alone  can  reveal  to  us  how  the 
violated  provisions  of  His  perfect  law  may  be  satis- 
fied, and  yet  His  immutable  truth  sustained.  He 
has  so  revealed  Himself,  my  brethren.  He  has 
so  interposed  in  behalf  of  His  frail  and  erring 
creatures.  He  has  remitted  nothing  whicli  was  due 
to  His  inexorable  justice  ;  but  he  has  consented  to  an 
equivalent  which,  in  power,  is  far  more  than  equal 
to  the  sacrifice  of  all  created  beings,  throughout  all 
time. 

It  was  God,  in  the  form  of  man,  who  redeemed  us 
from  the  curse  of  the  Law.  It  was  His  own  Almighty 
arm  that  brought  us  salvation. 

Such,  my  brethren,  is  the  mighty  mystery  of  our 
redemption ;  and  who  now  shall  penetrate  into  the 
secret  counsels  of  the  Almighty,  and  impiously  pre- 
sume to  say  that  it  is  not  so  ?  There  is  surely 
nothing  in  the  idea  of  Deity  that  confounds  our 
powers  of  belief;  but  there  is   everything  that  sur- 


144  The  Crucifixion. 

passes  our  power  of  comprehension.  And  wliy  may 
not  the  same  self-existing  Spirit,  eternal,  omniscient, 
omnipresent,  and  omnipotent,  whose  divine  essence  is 
necessarily  one,  but  whose  ubiquity  is  unquestionable ; 
who  may  and  does  exist  in  all  forms,  or  in  no  form — 
why,  I  say,  may  not  that  same  all-creating  and  all- 
controlling  Spirit,  in  His  dispensations  toM-ards  our 
race,  assume,  for  His  own  blessed  purposes  of  mercy, 
the  human  form  ?  Or  why  may  He  not,  for  other 
purposes  of  mercy,  manifest  Himself  in  three  distinct 
characters,  and  require  our  worship  according  to  that 
manifestation  ?  I  will  only  say,  my  brethren,  that 
this  scheme  of  salvation  is  inseparably  connected 
with  the  whole  tenor  and  texture  of  our  written  rev- 
elation, and  that  all  attempts  to  deduce  any  other 
form  of  Christianity  from  the  Bible  must  involve  us 
in  the  most  inextricable  difficulty  and  confusion  : 
difficulties  infinitely  greater  than  those  from  which, 
in  their  proud  and  disdainful  sense  of  independence, 
men  vainly  seek  to  free  themselves. 

Wonderful  indeed,  my  brethren,  in  every  view  of 
it,  is  the  stupendous  sacrifice  which  your  pious  feel- 
ings have  this  day  assembled  you  to  commemorate. 
Wonderful  indeed  is  the  vast  purpose  of  the  Saviour's 
death,  when  it  is  considered  in  connection  with  all 
time,  past,  present,  and  to  come,  and  if  it  be  confined 
to  this  world  of  beings  only.  But  who  can  say  that 
our  imperfect  knowledge  embraces  all  the  relations 
of  this  stupendous  ransom?  Who  can  say  but  this 
world  of  fallen  creatures  may  be  the  very  lowest 
in  the  scale  of  created   intelligences,  and  that  the 


The  Crucifixion.  145 

emotions  which  this  manifestation  of  the  Saviour's 
love  has  awakened  in  us,  may  not  at  the  same 
moment  be  acknowledged  by  endless  millions  of  far 
higher  orders  of  spirits,  in  a  perpetual  ascending 
series  ?  Who  can  say  but  that  angels,  and  principal- 
ities, and  powers  may  at  this  moment  be  bending  in 
deep  humiliation  before  the  memorials  of  the  Sav- 
iour's sacrifice ;  and  while  they  too,  under  a  sense  of 
their  insufficiency,  commemorate  His  death,  they  too 
seek  for  their  share  in  the  benefits  of  His  atonement, 
and  thus  to  secure  some  further  advancement  in  a 
career  of  spiritual  exaltation  and  glory  !  But  how- 
ever this  may  be,  and  whatever  may  be  the  efiect  of 
Christ's  redemption  upon  other  and  distant  worlds, 
we  at  least  know  that  the  Scriptures  speak  of  the 
knowledge  of  our  scheme  of  salvation  having  been 
disseminated  among  higher  orders  of  intelligence. 
This  is  enough  to  bespeak  its  dignity  and  vast  im- 
portance. Let  us  not  therefore  seek,  in  petulance  and 
pride,  to  be  wise  above  what  is  written  ;  but  let  us 
rather  wait,  in  meekness  and  patience,  to  see  and 
understand  all  of  its  bearings  and  vast  results  at  that 
final  and  glorious  consummation,  when  we  shall  know 
even  as  we  now  are  known. 

Such,  then,  was  the  character  in  which  the  incarnate 
Word  appeared,  when,  prompted  by  His  own  myste- 
rious love.  He  gave  himself  for  the  Church, — when 
He  delivered  Himself  up  to  death  for  us  all ! 

And  to  what  death?  Let  us  never  forget,  my 
brethren,  that  it  was  the  death  of  the  cross !  A  death 
which  was   attended  with   the  bitterest  pangs   of 


146  The  Crucifixion. 

agony,  and  over  which  hung  a  cloud  of  darker 
ignominy  than  over  any  other  of  the  punishments 
that  the  ingenious  cruelty  of  man  has  ever  devised 
to  be  inflicted  upon  the  basest  and  most  enormous 
crimes !  It  was  a  death  that,  as  the  great  Roman 
orator  has  most  emphatically  declared,  deserved  to 
be  forever  banished  from  the  eyes,  the  ears,  and  the 
very  imaginations  of  mankind. 

Often  before  this  had  God  lifted  up  His  voice,  and 
that  an  awful  and  a  startling  voice,  to  proclaim  the 
hatefulness  of  sin  in  His  sight.  But  how  faint  and 
feeble  were  all  His  previous  manifestations,  com- 
pared with  the  overwhelming  testimony  that  burst 
upon  the  trembling  world  from  the  hill  of  Calvary ! 
Not  the  desolating  plagues  of  Egypt — not  the  mirac- 
ulous fires  that  fell  upon  the  polluted  cities  of  the 
plain — not  all  of  the  waters  of  the  deluge  that  covered 
a  guilty  world— evinced  so  fearfully  to  mortals  the 
great  Jehovah's  hatred  of  sin,  as  one  single  drop  of 
the  blood  which  was  shed  upon  the  cross.  Could  all 
the  cries  of  all  that  have  ever  perished  under  the 
just  judgment  of  an  avenging  God — yea,  could  all 
the  cries  of  all  the  souls  lost,  that  are  at  this  moment 
lifting  up  their  voices  of  wailing  in  the  dark  prisons 
of  the  condemned — could  they  all,  I  say,  be  at 
this  moment  combined  into  one  wild  piercing  shriek 
of  anguish,  it  would  not  strike  upon  my  heart  with 
half  such  convincing  power  to  satisfy  me  of  God's 
righteous  abhorrence  of  sin  ;  no,  it  would  not  appal 
nie  half  so  much  as  that  cry  which  burst  from  the 
Saviour  God  amid  the  dark  scenes  of  His  mysterious 


TTie  Crucifixion.  147 

suffering — "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou  for- 
saken me  ! " 

My  brethren,  while  my  mind  is  thus  impressed  and 
I  look  out  upon  the  earth,  which  sin  has  made  so  full 
of  "  lamentation,  and  mourning,  and  woe ;  "  and  when, 
in  imagination,  I  survey  the  gloomy  depths  of  hell, 
where  sin  has  kindled  the  unquenchable  fires  of  re- 
morse, anguish,  and  despair,  I  shudder  at  the  con- 
sequences of  evil  and  crime.  But  it  is  not  until  I 
turn  to  Judea,  shrouded  in  darkness  and  trembling  to 
earth's  inmost  recesses,  while  the  everlasting  rocks 
are  rent,  and  the  dark  graves  are  opened,  and  I  see 
through  the  gloom  of  the  covered  sun  the  Lord  of 
Life  and  Light  hanging  upon  the  accursed  tree.  Oh  ! 
it  is  then  that  I  realize  in  all  its  fulness  the  dark 
enormity  of  moral  evil !  It  is  then  that  I  feel  the 
odiousness,  the  black  ingratitude  and  unpardonable 
guilt  of  wilful  rebellion  against  the  Giver  and  Ruler 
of  our  lives.  Yea,  it  is  then  that  I  see  that  no  blood 
could  expiate  its  guilt,  and  no  death  could  procure  its 
pardon,  but  the  blood  and  the  death  of  Him  who  was 
"  God  manifest  in  the  flesh."  Shall  we  not,  then,  my 
brethren,  shrink  away  with  trembling  and  watchful 
solicitude  from  all  contamination  and  from  every  con- 
tact with  evil  ?  Will  you  not  consent  with  me  to 
vow  a  vow  promptly  and  cordially, — a  vow  of  unqua- 
lified abhorrence  and  renunciation  of  all  sin  ?  Oh  ! 
may  the  everlasting  Spirit  of  God,  "  without  whom 
nothing  is  strong  and  nothing  is  holy,"  enable  you  to 
resolve,  and,  by  keeping  your  resolution,  to  show  forth 
ceaseless  praises  to  the  God  of  holiness ! 


148  The  CruGifixion. 

My  brethren,  when  you  fancy  that  you  hear  the 
merciful  Saviour,  in  His  absorbing  devotion  to  the 
happiness  of  His  creatures,  exclaiming  to  the  wail- 
ing mourners  that  surrounded  His  cross,  "Daughters 
of  Jerusalem,  weep  not  for  me,  but  weep  for  your- 
selves and  for  your  children  " — let  it  be  to  your  own 
hearts  that  he  speaks. 

From  the  awful  hour  in  which  the  Jews  invoked 
the  blighting  blood  of  Jesus  to  be  upon  them  and 
upon  their  children,  have  they  and  their  children's 
children,  through  a  long  and  countless  line,  been 
afflicted  and  forsaken  ;  an  astonishment,  a  proverb, 
and  a  by- word  among  all  nations  !  It  was  a  fearful 
imprecation,  and  most  fearfully  was  it  answered. 
That  generation  had  not  passed  away,  when  such 
multitudes  upon  multitudes  of  that  devoted  people 
were  crucified  at  Jerusalem,  that  there  was  no  longer 
room  for  the  crosses  to  stand  beside  each  other  ;  nor 
could  they  at  last  find  wood  to  make  as  many  as 
they  wanted.     Appalling  fulfilment  of  prophecy  ! 

The  destruction  of  Jerusalem  was  but  the  emblem 
of  the  great  day  of  the  world,  yet  before  us.  Let 
us  think,  then,  of  the  sins  by  which  we  have  too  often 
crucified  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  let  us  weep  for 
ourselves  and  for  our  children,  when  we  think  that 
the  day  is  coming  when  not  only  over  the  land  of 
Judea,  but  over  the  whole  earth,  the  sun  shall  be 
darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  be  turned  into  blood ; 
when  not  only  the  rocks  of  the  earth  shall  be  rent, 
but  the  powers  of  heaven  shall  be  shaken ;  when 
not  the  bodies  of  a  few  saints  shall  arise,  but  all  who 


TTi&  Crucifixion.  149 

are  in  their  graves  shall  come  forth !  when  before 
the  impious  apostates  of  earth  there  shall  be  opened 
the  immeasurable  gulf  that  separates  heaven  from 
hell,  and  the  last  words  of  their  angry  Judge  shall 
ring  in  their  astonished  ears,  "  Behold  ye  despisers, 
and  wonder,  and  perish  !  "  At  the  same  time,  my 
brethren,  the  awful  veil  in  the  temple  not  made 
with  hands,  the  temple  in  the  New  Jerusalem,  shall 
be  "  rent  in  twain,"  and  the  everlasting  Jesus  shall 
be  seen  in  the  true  Holy  of  Holies,  as  the  one  High 
Priest  of  His  people,  having  by  the  one  sacrifice  of 
Himself  made  eternal  redemption  for  them  that  are 
His. 

My  brethren,  let  us  think  of  these  things  for  our- 
selves and  for  our  children,  and  let  us  turn  to  Him 
who  alone  can  deliver  us,  with  weeping,  and  fasting, 
and  prayer ;  that  in  another,  a  better,  and  a  far  loftier 
sense,  His  blood  may  indeed  be  upon  our  souls; 
that  it  may  indeed  be  upon  us  in  peace,  and  not 
in  destroying  wrath ;  yea,  that  His  blood  may  be 
upon  us  and  our  children  in  all  of  its  purifying, 
pardoning,  and  comforting  influences;  that  it  may 
be  upon  us  as  a  mark  of  His  covenant  mercy,  the 
token  of  His  adopting  love,  so  that  when  the  destroy- 
ing angel  shall  go  forth  to  smite  all  the  enemies  of 
the  Lord  with  an  everlasting  destruction  from  His 
presence,  we  may  be  passed  over  in  triumph,  as  being 
sprinkled  with  the  saving  blood  of  the  Lamb  ! 


THE  RESURRECTION  OF  CHRIST. 


"  ^f  y^  then  be  risen  with  Christy  seek  those  things  which  are  above." 

Colossiana  Zd,  \st. 

K  the  Scriptures  the  power  and  proper  ten- 
dency of  the  Christian  faith  to  elevate  its 
followers   above   the    corruptions   of  the 
world  is  often  compared  to  the  resurrection 
of  Christ  from  the  grave. 

In  the  undoubted  and  animating  pledge  which  we 
have  received  of  our  own  immortality  in  the  rising 
again  of  the  great  Captain  of  our  Salvation,  we  are 
regarded  as  being  already  above  the  world,  as  being 
dead  with  Christ  unto  sin,  and  alive  with  Christ 
unto  God ;  as  being  new  ceeatubes,  who  are  hence- 
forth to  live  not  unto  themselves,  but  unto  Him  who 
died  for  them  and  rose  again.  Thus  are  we  con- 
stantly exhorted  to  direct  the  purest  and  deepest 
aspiration  of  our  hearts  towards  our  heavenly  and 
eternal  inheritance.  "  If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ, 
seek  those  things  which  are  above." 

Of  all  the  subjects  which  can  engage  the  powers 
of  the  human  mind,  its  keligion  is  unquestionably 
the  most  important,  because  it  relates  to  the  im- 
perishable soul  rather  than  to  the  wasting  body,  and 


The  Resurrection  of  Christ.  151 

to  the   eternal  Creator  rather  than   to   the  fadin^^ 
forms  of  creation  with  which  He  has  surrounded  us. 

He  who  has  once  been  convinced  of  the  truth  of 
this  must  surely  return  to  the  contemplation  of  such 
absorbing  subjects  of  thought  with  perpetually  in- 
creasing force  and  frequency  ;  he  must  surely  regard 
it  as  THAT  for  which  everything  incompatible  with  it 
must  at  once  be  sacrificed  without  awakening  surprise, 
or  creating  any  suspicion,  even,  of  weakness  or  irra- 
tionality. 

My  brethren,  if  the  certainty  of  another  and  a 
better  existence  than  the  present  has  been  clearly 
revealed  to  us,  is  it  not  the  most  exalted  distinction 
of  our  nature  ?  Shall  not  all  our  best  wishes  be 
enkindled  and  our  best  powers  be  active  in  the 
pursuit  ? 

Shall  mem,  the  lord  of  all  this  lower  creation,  and 
the  heir  of  immortal  glory,  forget  his  truest  dignity 
and  neglect  to  employ  his  high  endowment  of  rea- 
son when  that  reason  might  anticipate  its  noblest 
triumphs?  While  we  leave  nothing  to  hazard  that 
belongs  to  this  fleeting  existence,  shall  we  leave 
everything  that  pertains  to  eternity  to  accident  and 
chance  1  Oh,  no  !  if  we  are  all  pilgrims  of  time, 
risen  with  Jesus  from  the  dust  and  darkness  and 
pollutions  of  earth,  redeemed,  disenthralled,  and  des- 
tined for  the  skies,  then  let  us  seek  first  and  most 
anxiously  those  things  whicli  are  above. 

Let  me  here  pray  you  to  remark  that,  in  the  words 
of  our  text,  the  certainty  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ 
is  assumed  as  a  truth  beyond  the  possibility  of  dispute 


152  The  Resurrection  of  Chrht. 

or  denial.  And  you  will  permit  me  to  say  in  passing, 
that  we  cannot  well  conceive  of  anything  more  mani- 
festly open  to  refutation,  if  it  had  been  false.  So,  too, 
is  it  difficult  to  conceive  of  any  fact  in  the  whole 
wide  range  of  historical  truth  whicli  could  by  any 
possibility  be  fenced  around  by  a  greater  amount 
of  irrefragable  testimony  than  is  actually  concen- 
trated upon  the  great  event  which  we  this  day  com- 
memorate. 

If  there  be  a  God,  He  certainly  never  would  allow 
the  sublimest  of  all  doctrines,  and  the  purest  and 
profoundest  of  all  subjects  of  human  faith  and  hu- 
man hope,  to  be  disfigured  and  trifled  with  by  the 
cheateries  of  imposture.  The  certainties  of  eternity 
are  too  overpoweringly  important  to  be  allowed  to 
rest  upon  vague  tradition  or  upon  the  dim  conjecture 
of  philosophy,  and  we  accordingly  find  that  God  in 
His  mercy  has  added  to  the  teaching  of  revelation 
the  unyielding  guarantee  of  one  of  the  most  com- 
pletely ESTABLISHED  FACTS  iu  tlic  whole  compass  of 
history.  That  great  fact,  thus  established,  established 
also  the  whole  of  Christianity,  Brethren,  it  con- 
verts into  certainty  the  sublime  and  transporting 
HOPE  that  every  victim  of  death,  every  prisoner  of 
the  grave  shall  also  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of 
God,  and  they  that  hear  shall  live.  It  is  the  stu- 
pendous FACT  thus  established  that  has  fulfilled  the 
words  of  prophecy,  and  awakened  "the  voice  of 
rejoicing  and  salvation  in  the  tabernacles  of  the 
righteous." 

It  is  this  which  lias  inspired  the  whole  Christian 


The  Resurrection  of  Christ.  153 

Church  with  a  transporting  animation,  so  that  amid 
all  the  dispersions,  and  all  the  diversity  of  languages, 
and  kindred,  climes  and  sects,  she  still  prolongs  the 
joyous  anthem  of  more  than  eighteen  hundred  years 
— "  The  Lord  is  risen,"  "The  Lord  is  risen  indeed  !  " 
It  is  well  and  wise  that  this  should  be  so,  for  the 
same  causes  for  holy  joy  and  spiritual  triumph  still 
remain  with  us,  in  all  their  force,  and  in  all  their 
freshness.  The  certainty  of  Christ's  resurrection  has 
not  been  in  the  least  degree  dimmed  or  diminished  by 
the  lapse  of  centuries.  The  ocean  of  time,  as  it  rolls 
on  its  obliterating  waves  over  the  baseless  structures 
of  falsehood,  has  only  served  to  render  more  conspic- 
uous and  more  impregnable  this  rock  of  eternal 
Truth.  It  was  because  the  doctrines  of  Christianity 
were  thus  supported,  that  it  so  miraculously  forced  its 
way  over  every  obstacle  that  the  iron  power  of  the 
nations  could  array  against  it,  until  it  triumphantly 
overthrew  their  religions,  convicted  their  philoso- 
phers of  folly,  subdued  the  triumphant  legions  of 
haughty  Rome,  and  clothed  itself  in  her  imperial 
purple !  "While  Rome  continued  in  splendor,  Chris- 
tianity, thus  resting  upon  the  mighty  truth  of  Christ's 
resurrection,  continued  to  rule  and  guide  her  spiritual 
hopes;  and  then  throughout  all  the  ages  of  her  de- 
cline, and  amid  all  the  wasting  confusion  of  unceas- 
ing revolutions — amid  the  changes  of  empire  and  the 
fall  of  nations — did  Christianity  still  live,  to  triumph 
over  the  barbarism  and  Pagan  heresies  of  the  wild 
hordes  of  ruthless  men  who  brutally  contended  for 
empire.     Calmly,  and  surely,  did  she  take  possession 

7* 


154  The  Resurrection  of  Christ, 

of  each  kingdom  that  arose  in  its  turn.  It  was  in 
this  way  that  the  Goth  and  the  Vandal,  the  Hun, 
the  Frank,  the  Saxon,  and  the  Norman,  yielded,  each 
in  his  turn,  to  the  resistless  force  of  miraculous  truth. 
Through  gloomy  ages  of  ignorance,  and  through 
bright  times  of  classic  refinement — through  blighting 
reigns  of  religious  despotism,  and  through  seasons  of 
liberty,  civilization,  and  intellectual  development — 
has  Christianity,  resting  upon  the  stupendous  fact  of 
Christ's  resurrection,  advanced  over  the  ruins  of  a 
thousand  superstitions,  and  planted  herself,  as  we  now 
behold  her,  in  a  gigantic  and  gloriously  illumined 
temple  of  everlasting  teuth  ! 

I  repeat  it,  then,  that  Christianity,  with  all  its 
soothing  and  all  its  fearful  doctrines,  rests  upon  the 
certainty  of  the  great  event  we  this  day  commem- 
orate !  And  then,  while  we  consider  how  it  has  lived 
and  advanced;  how  it  has  promoted  the  spiritual,  in- 
tellectual, and  political  welfare  of  our  race  ;  how  it 
has  delivered  us  from  the  slavery  of  the  sin,  the 
debasement  of  superstition,  and  enriched  us  with  the 
blessings  of  holiness  and  charity,  can  we  for  one  mo- 
ment suppose  that  it  has  done  all  this  without  the 
Divine  Messing  and  without  the  Divine  power,  and 
that  its  wretched  author  now  lies  mouldering  in  the 
grave  of  the  malefactor  ?  Of  all  conceivable  absur- 
dities this  would  be  the  greatest ! 

Well,  then,  does  it  become  us  to  join  in  the  songs  of 
joy,  and  soothing  anthems  of  thanksgiving  and  praise 
with  which  the  universal  Church  are  this  day  offering 
adoration  to  their  Divine  Redeemer.    "  Now  is  Christ 


The  Resurrection  of  Christ.  155 

risen  from  the  dead,"  and  because  "  He  lives,  so 
shall  we  live  also."  "It  is  appointed  unto  men  once 
to  die."  A  few  more  brief  and  hurrying  seasons, 
and  we  all,  my  brethren,  must  yield  to  that  universal 
law.  A  few  more  passing  hours,  and  our  voices  will 
all  be  hushed  in  the  stillness  of  death.  The  roses 
upon  the  cheek  of  youth;  manhood  in  its  strength, 
and  with  its  fretting  cares ;  old  age  with  silvery  locks, 
and  its  treasures  of  experience ;  all  the  pomp  of 
wealth  and  all  the  glitter  of  station  will  have  passed 
away  forever.  Brethren,  it  is  a  solemn  reality.  It 
is  an  overpowering  thought.  But  ah  !  how  support- 
ing, how  consoling,  how  enrapturing  is  it  to  know, 
that  "  as  we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthly,  we 
shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  heavenly."  Glorious 
is  the  assurance  that,  althouo;h  "  the  wao;es  of  sin  is 
death,  yet  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,"  "  and  when  Christ  who  is  our 
life  shall  appear,  then  shall  we  also  appear  with  Him 
in  glory."  Oh  !  how  blessed  is  it  to  know,  amid  the 
waste  and  desolation  of  death,  amid  all  the  bereave- 
ments of  our  homes,  and  the  disappointment  of  our 
brightest  hopes — the  blight  that  has  fallen  upon  our 
hearts,  and  the  tears  which  we  have  poured  out  like 
water  over  the  memory  of  the  loved  and  the  lost  of 
the  earth — oh !  how  blessed  is  it  to  know,  that  "  the 
dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible ! "  that  we  all 
shall  meet  again  ;  not  as  we  parted,  brethren,  op- 
pressed with  care,  worn  with  sickness,  faint  from 
grief,  and  faded  by  time,  but  all  of  us  clothed  with 
immortality  and  unfading  glory.      "  Death  is  indeed 


166  The  Resurrection  of  Christ. 

swallowed  up  in  victory,"  "  Thanks  be  to  God, 
which  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ." 

My  brethren,  these  are  impressive  subjects  of 
thought,  and  how  extraordinary — how  passing  strange 
— is  the  practical  indifference  with  which  they  are 
regarded  by  multitudes  around  us,  who  yet  profess  to 
wear  the  Gospel  to  their  hearts  as  the  charter  of  their 
immortal  rights.  If  these  doctrines  were  merely  met 
as  physical  abstractions  not  bearing  upon  the  business 
of  this  life,  nor  coming  home  to  the  bosoms  of  men 
in  reference  to  their  dearest  hopes  for  eternity,  we 
would  not  be  surprised  at  the  indifference  with  which 
they  are  regarded  by  thousands  who  would  yet  shud- 
der to  deny  their  truth.  Of  all  the  possible  subjects 
which  can  be  presented  to  the  thoughts  of  men,  Chris- 
tianity is  essentially  the  most  practical.  It  speaks 
directly  to  the  heart,  and  to  the  most  intensely  anx- 
ious feelings  of  the  heart ;  and  through  the  heart  it 
regulates  the  passions  and  controls  the  conduct  of 
mankind.  Christ  did  not  descend  to  this  earth  to 
weep,  to  bleed,  to  die,  and  then  to  raise  Himself  in- 
corruptible from  the  grave,  only  as  a  theme  of  useless 
wonder.  It  was  not  that  He  might  exercise  the 
acuteness  of  human  intellect  or  feed  the  human  mind 
with  worthless  subtleties.  He  did  not  come  to  fill  the 
world  with  better  reasoners,  but  rather  to  enrich  it 
with  better  men.  Christianity  is  no  history  of  man's 
progress  ;  it  is  no  theory  by  which  he  may  be  restored 
to  innocence  and  glory,  but  rather  is  it  the  prepara- 
tion, the  education,  the  discipline  necessary  to  fit  us 


The  Resurrection  of  Christ.  15T 

for  the  enjoyment  of  beatitudes  to  come.  Christ  did 
not  come  only  to  point  lis  to  the  straight  and  narrow 
way  that  leads  to  the  lost  fields  of  glory,  but  rather 
was  it  to  enlighten  that  path  with  His  own  unfailing 
light  of  life,  and  to  extend  His  own  helping  arm  of 
strength  to  all  who,  conscious  of  weakness,  would 
meekly  invoke  His  aid. 

But  what  now  has  been  the  effect  of  all  manifesta- 
tion of  boundless  love,  and  these  ceaseless  efforts  for 
our  celestial  training  ?  Cast  your  eyes  over  the  map 
of  Christendom,  and  then  turn  to  the  regenerating 
and  ennobling  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  and  tell  me, 
how  are  men  influenced  by  God's  purposes  of  ever- 
lasting mercy,  and  by  the  retributions  which  we  must 
perceive  to  be  reserved  for  the  guilty  and  unrepenting 
of  our  race  ? 

Alas  !  my  friends,  how  terrific  is  the  demonstration 
which  is  given  of  the  debasing  tendencies  of  the  hu- 
man heart,  when  we  see  how  lamentably  short  and 
feeble  is  human  practice,  in  comparison  with  what 
the  elevating  doctrine  of  our  faith  would  have  us  to 
be !  Indeed,  my  friends,  Christianity  is  something 
more  than  a  name.  It  has  come  from  heaven,  and  it 
is  armed  with  heavenly  power ;  and  if  men  did  not 
resist  it  in  their  perverseness,  and  smother  its  fires  by 
their  wicked  works,  it  would  soon  be  seen  and  felt  to 
be  working  widely  and  deeply.  It  would  inspire  our 
minds  with  an  unconquerable  energy  in  sacred  pur- 
poses, and  it  would  enrich  the  earth  by  raising  to 
itself  everywhere  the  most  imperishable  monuments 
of  holiness,  purity,  and  truth. 


158  The  Resurrection  of  Christ. 

But  alas  !  alas  !  how  extraordinary  is  the  anomaly 
which  Christian  lands  will  everywhere  present,  of 
thousands  who  yield  their  belief  to  the  Christian 
records  as  containing  truths  of  eternal  importance, 
but  who  yet  continue  to  live  as  thoughtlessly  and  as 
flagrantly  negligent  of  all  the  duties  of  the  Christian 
profession,  as  if  no  such  controlling  law  of  right 
existed  ! 

I  speak  not  now  of  speculative  infidelity^  but 
rather  of  practical  disobedience.  I  speak  of  what  1 
fear  we  all  experimentally  know — that  while  we  are 
far  from  rejecting  the  sublime  and  all-consoling  doc- 
trines of  Christianity,  yet  we  suifer  no  impress  to  be 
made  upon  our  minds  and  no  direction  to  be  given  to 
our  conduct  by  the  regenerating  spirit  of  the  faith  in 
which  we  profess  to  confide. 

This,  my  brethren,  is  a  common-sense  view  of  the 
matter,  and  it  has  well  been  said  that  the  senseless 
laugh  of  an  idiot,  wdien  in  the  hurrying  waters  of  a 
foaming  and  a  fatal  cataract,  is  but  a  feeble  illustra- 
tion of  the  infatuation  which  is  so  common  around  us, 
and  which  is  credible  only  because  it  is  so  common. 
It  could  be  looked  upon  with  no  other  feelings  than 
those  of  astonishment  and  sickness  of  heart  if  the  con- 
templators  of  the  scene  were  the  inhabitants  of  some 
other  sphere,  and  unacquainted  with  the  secret  springs 
which  influence  human  actions. 

Alas !  my  brethren,  how  else  must  the  scenes  of 
this  world  appear  to  those  angelic  beings  who  are 
the  invisible  spectators  of  our  doings,  when  they 
see  so  many  of  us  under  the  influence   of  the  be- 


The  Resurrection  of  Christ.  159 

wildering  infatuation  of  which  I  speak !  Although 
the  curse  of  a  broken  law  is  hanging  over  us,  and 
the  frown  of  an  angry  God  is  lowering  on  us,  and 
we  are  hourly  tottering  on  the  brink  of  eternity,  yet 
the  smile  of  reckless  gayety  sparkles  in  the  eye, 
and  the  loud  laugh  of  merriment  bursts  from  the 
lips  !  and  too  many  of  us,  in  the  thoughtlessness  of 
guilty  revehy,  exhibit  the  spectacle  of  maniacs, 
dancing  in  their  chains  on  the  precipice's  edge  ! 

My  brethren,  it  sometimes  happens  that  the  ma- 
niac, in  the  creative  working  of  his  disordered  brain, 
converts  the  place  of  his  confinement  into  a  palace, 
his  fantastic  dress  into  royal  robes,  and  the  compan- 
ions of  his  captivity  into  the  attendants  of  his  court. 
Tell  him  that  you  are  come  to  release  him  from  his 
confinement,  and  to  restore  him  to  society  and  to 
his  friends,  and  he  hears  you  without  gratitude  or 
pleasure,  perhaps  rejects  with  scorn  your  offer  of 
deliverance ;  but  point  to  the  imaginary  splendors 
which  surround  him,  and  he  laughs  and  dances  in 
the  wild  delirium  of  frenzied  enjoyment.  And 
know  you  not,  my  brethren,  that  for  us  an  Al- 
mighty Deliverer  has  come  down  from  Heaven 
to  rescue  us  ?  He  offers  to  open  for  us  the  prison- 
doors,  and  to  give  deliverance  to  every  captive  of 
the  evil  one.  But  so  it  is,  that  when  the  Deliverer 
thus  comes,  and  offers  to  release  us  (victims  that  we 
are  of  bewildering  imagination)  from  our  degrading 
bondage  to  the  powers  of  sensuality  and  sin,  we 
turn  from  Him  in  cold  contempt ;  refuse  His  offers 
with  scornful  disdain  ;  rush  again  upon  the  seductive 


160  The  Resurrection  of  Christ. 

joys  of  the  world,  and  plunge  with  fresh  zest  into  its 
scenes  of  frenzied  riot!  Soon,  alas!  with  every 
power  and  faculty  of  mind  and  body  absolutely 
enthralled  amid  its  wild  and  delirious  enjoyments, 
we  lose  all  thought  of  Him  the  Mighty  One;  all 
recollection  of  His  offers  of  mercy  ;  of  his  visit  of 
redeeming  love ;  and  of  all  His  precious  gifts  of 
present  grace  and  promises  of  future  glory !  Oh  I 
there  is  no  madness  so  stupid,  so  fatal  as  this ! 

Oh !  that  I  could  but  arrest  the  attention  of  the 
heedless  and  open  the  eyes  of  the  sinful,  so  that  they 
might  see  the  unutterable  euin  in  which  their  self- 
willed  perversity  must  terminate  1 

Oh!  that  I  could  but  induce  you  to  listen  to  the 
persuasive  voice  of  that  celestial  Messenger,  who 
entreats  with  the  tenderness  of  a  Saviour's  love  that 
you  would  come  unto  Him,  so  that  He  might  give 
you  an  inheritance  among  those  who  are  sanctified 
by  His  spirit  and  saved  by  faith  in  His  atoning 
blood! 

But,  alas!  the  power  for  this  is  not  with  me.  T 
can  only  tell  you,  on  the  strength  of  God's  promises 
of  mercy  to  a  guilty  world  (and  may  the  Holy 
Spirit,  whose  province  it  is,  carry  the  message  with 
subduing  power  to  your  hearts),  that  no  matter  how 
far  you  may  have  wandered  from  your  Heavenly 
Father's  home,  no  matter  how  prodigally  you  may 
hitherto  have  squandered  in  the  service  of  the  world 
those  talents  which  He  intrusted  to  your  keeping  to 
be  employed  to  His  glory,  yet,  if  you  will  but  arise 
with  Jesus  from  the  death  of  sin,  confess  your  error, 


The  Resurrection  of  Christ.  161 

and  ask  for  pardon  in  the  name  of  His  risen  Son, 
He  will  not  reject  you— He  will  rather  hasten  to 
receive  you  with  the  overflowing  tenderness  of  a 
Father's  joy,  and  with  the  endearing  expressions  of 
a  Father's  forgiveness.  He  will  invest  you  with  the 
tokens  of  His  covenant  mercy ;  He  will  bring  you 
under  the  sunshine  of  His  smiles,  and  place  you 
under  the  training  of  His  Spirit,  so  as  to  render  you 
meet  to  be  a  "  partaker  of  the  inheritance  of  the 
saints  in  light." 

My  brethren,  while  death  is  everywhere  defeating 
the  calculations  of  human  wisdom  and  advancing  in 
cold  and  ghastly  triumph  over  all  human  strength 
and  human  glory ;  while  we  see  the  beggar  in  his 
tattered  covering,  and  the  ruler  of  nations  in  robes 
and  ermine  of  office ;  while  we  see  the  infant  of  days 
and  the  old  man  who  little  thought  that  he  had  ful- 
filled his  days,  all  alike  palsied  by  the  blighting 
touch  of  Death,  can  nothing  arouse  us  to  a  wise 
and  enduring  sense  of  our  uncertain  condition  and 
absolute  responsibility  ?  Can  nothing  enable  us  to 
see  through  the  blaze  of  enchantment  the  world 
throws  around  its  votaries  ?  Can  nothing  succeed  in 
bringing  the  awful  reality  of  eternity  before  our 
minds  in  all  their  tremendous  proportions,  so  as  to 
lead  us  to  estimate  things  temporal  at  their  true 
value  ?  Oh,  brethren,  "  if  ye  be  risen  with  Christ, 
seek  those  things  which  are  above ! " 

As  members  and  parts  of  the  body  of  Christ,  ye 
are  heirs  of  God,  joint  heirs  with  Christ !  and  it  is 
thus  that  I  would  persuade  you  to  think  of  your 


162  The  Resurrection  of  Christ. 

higli  and  holy  calling — your  true  and  loft  destiny! 
It  is  thus  that  I  would  persuade  you  to  maintain 
and  manifest  the  character  and  feelings  becoming 
the  expectant  of  such  an  inheritance  as  is  laid 
before  you.  Ah !  what  purity  !  what  sanctity  !  what 
heavenly-mindedness!  what  true  nobility  of  spirit, 
what  stainless  integrity  of  heart  and  character  should 
be  found  in  one  standing  in  such  a  relationship  with 
Divinity  ! 

Come,  then,  and  let  us  resolve  that  we  will  strive 
so  to  live,  as  men  should  live  who  hope  soon  to  be 
with  the  angels,  with  Jesus,  and  the  host  of  His 
redeemed,  to  be  in  the  presence  of  our  God  !  Yea, 
live  hourly  and  continually  with  the  land  of  our 
eternal  inheritance  steadily  in  view,  as  if  we  stood 
in  waiting  upon  its  borders,  and  knew  not  how  soon 
we  may  be  summoned  to  cross  its  charmed  boundary  ! 

Yes,  brethren,  "  if  we  be  risen  with  Christ,  let  us 
seek  those  things  which  are  above."  Let  us  live 
with  Heaven,  our  last  and  highest  home,  always  in 
view — its  inhabitants,  its  joys,  its  love,  its  glories — 
until  the  influence  of  Heaven  so  descends  upon 
us  as  to  form  its  temper  within  us ;  until  all  the 
tumultuous  waves  of  this  earth's  passions  are  calmed, 
and  all  the  distracting  feelings  of  our  troubled  hearts 
are  tranquillized  into  that  sweet  and  holy  rest  which 
is  an  emblem  and  foretaste  of  the  happiness  of  the 
blessed ! 


THE  TRINITY. 


^'■Hardly  do  we  guess  aright  at  things  that  are  upon  the  earthy 
and  with  labor  do  we  find  the  things  that  are  before  us  ;  but  the 
things  that  are  in  Heaven^  who  hath  searched  out  ?  And  Thy  coun- 
sel^ who  hath  known,  except  Thou  give  wisdom,  and  send  Thy  Holy 
Spirit  from  above  '^  " 

Wisdom  9th,  IQth,  nth. 


LL  human  knowledge  is  founded  on  belief. 
"We  must  receive  facts  without  being 
able  to  explain  them ;  and  adopt  prin- 
ciples as  of  undoubted  soundness,  which 
yet,  if  pursued  to  extremes,  will  unsettle  all  truth 
and  land  us  in  absurdity. 

Now,  if  this  must  be  affirmed  of  everything  which 
we  call  knowledge,  can  we  expect  to  be  relieved 
from  the  difficulty  in  our  religious  knowledge  ? 
Throughout  the  whole  of  nature,  in  every  sphere  of 
human  investigation,  there  are  innumerable  phe- 
nomena presented,  which  we  readily  receive  upon 
unquestioned  testimony  ;  and  yet  to  any  or  all  of 
these  facts,  subtle  objections  may  be  urged,  which 
we  are  unable  to  answer,  and  difficulties  may  be 
presented  which  we  pretend  not  to  obviate.  Yet 
we  repose  our  confidence  in  these  things  with  a 
tranquil  and  unwavering  constancy.  We  know 
them  as  far  as  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  know  them. 


164  The  Trinity . 

We  reject  them  not  as  false  because  difficulties  meet 
us  in  every  view ;  because  this  may  be  said  of  all 
things,  and  some  things  must  be  true. 

In  religion  God  has  revealed  to  us,  as  facts,  many 
important  truths  in  reference  to  His  own  nature, 
which  He  has  not  enabled  us  to  account  for,  or  ex- 
plain in  terms  to  other  minds.  But  in  this  God  has 
made  no  unusual  exaction  on  our  faith.  We  know 
not  the  essence  of  our  own  minds.  We  know  not 
the  union  and  distinction  of  its  several  faculties. 
We  know  not  how  it  is  that  soul  and  body — united 
and  yet  distinct — make  one  man.  We  know  not 
how  our  united  and  yet  differing  sensations  are  ex- 
perienced. We  know  not  how  it  is  that  the  will 
controls  the  eye  or  moves  the  arm.  We  know  not 
how  it  is  that  the  vicissitudes  of  heat  or  cold  are  pro- 
duced— how  it  is  tliat  bodies  attract  or  repel  each 
other.  We  know  not  what  is  matter,  nor  how  it  is 
that  gravitation  preserves  the  harmony  of  the  out- 
ward universe.  My  brethren,  we  know  not  why  our 
knowledge  of  nature  is  so  confined — why  it  is  that 
God  did  not  enable  us  to  comprehend  nature  in  all 
the  glory,  grandeur,  and  beauty  of  her  inscrutable 
mysteries.  But  this  we  do  know,  that  our  inability 
to  comprehend  nature  in  all  the  modes  and  reasons  of 
her  operation  is  no  ground  for  disbelieving  all  the 
phenomena  of  nature ;  and  surely  we  maybe  content 
to  act  in  the  moral  world,  and  in  matters  of  faith, 
precisely  as  we  do  in  the  natural  world,  and  in  mat- 
ters of  sight  and  sense— to  receive  everything  which 
we  are  permitted  to  read  and  understand  as  coming 


The  Trinity.  165 

from  God,  although  there  may  be  curiosity  awakened 
as  to  modes,  circumstances,  and  degrees  of  knowledge, 
which  we  are  utterly  unable  to  gratify — I  say  that 
we  are  to  receive  what  we  can  understand  as  being 
revealed — the  fact  itself.  More  than  that  Grod  does 
not  require  of  us,  and  it  is  presumption  in  us  to  go 
beyond  what  He  requires. 

Here  I  will  remark,  that  we  cannot  be  guilty  of 
more  serious  injustice  than  to  say  that  Christianity 
requires  us  to  believe  what  we  cannot  understand. 
The  very  language  is  absurd.  To  believe  is  to  un- 
derstand. And  we  assert  fearlessly  that  Christianity 
never  requires  us  to  advance  one  single  step  beyond 
the  rational  dictates  of  that  common  sense  with  which 
God  has  endowed  us. 

When  facts  are  revealed,  the  reasons  or  modes  of 
existence  connected  with  which  are  beyond  our  un- 
derstanding, the  FACTS  alone  are  presented  to  our 
faith.  Thus,  in  reference  to  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity,  or  of  the  responsibility  of  man  in  connection 
with  the  foreknowledge  of  God,  or  of  prophecy  in 
connection  with  the  freedom  of  human  actions,  we 
are  never  required  to  quit  the  guidance  of  reason — 
we  are  never  required  to  believe  what  we  cannot  un- 
derstand. The  facts  themselves  are  presented  upon 
the  sure  warrant  of  God's  word.  Their  agreement 
with  our  ideas,  and  with  the  character  of  God,  is  not 
for  us  to  determine,  because  we  know  nothing  of  the 
character  of  God.  What  is  revealed  we  must  receive, 
as  we  do  a  thousand  things  in  nature,  as  so  many 
ascertained  facts.     The  mode  is  not  revealed,  and 


106  The  Trinity. 

what  is  not  revealed  cannot  be  a  subject  of  faith. 
Now,  my  brethren,  were  a  doctrine  presented  to  us 
which  we  saw  at  once  to  be  self-contradictorj,  and 
opposed  to  the  clearest  dictates  of  reason,  nothing 
could  make  such  a  doctrine  an  object  of  faith.  By 
no  possibility  can  we  admit  that  to  be  true  which  we 
plainly  see  to  be  false,  for  to  admit  anything  contrary 
to  our  reason  would  be  to  destroy  both  reason  and 
revelation.  But  if  our  assent  be  required  to  a  doctrine 
full  of  meaning,  and  without  inconsistency,  un- 
doubtedly assured  in  a  revelation  well  supported, 
the  mere  circumstance  of  its  being  beyond  the  power 
of  reason  to  follow  and  comprehend  in  all  its  bearings 
is  no  ground  for  rejecting  it.  In  the  revelation  of 
God  we  believe  many  things  which  are  above  our 
reason ;  and  so  is  the  wide  creation  of  God  in  every 
one  of  its  parts  above  our  reason  ;  but  who  will 
therefore  say  that  the  creation  of  God  is  a  contra- 
diction, an  absurdity,  and  inconsistent  with  reason  ? 
In  material  nature  it  is  utterly  impossible  that 
those  objects  which  we  perceive  and  know  to  be 
distinct  should  at  the  same  time  be  one.  But  there 
is  no  analogy  whatever  between  such  a  proposition 
and  the  simple  revealed  fact  that  the  Divine  attri- 
butes are  manifested  to  the  world  in  three  distinct 
characters,  a  threefold  manifestation  of  the  same  one, 
eternal,  indivisible  essence  of  Divinity.  This  is  a 
proposition  to  be  deduced  clearly,  as  we  think,  not 
from  a  few  insulated  passages,  but  from  the  whole 
tenor  of  Scripture  and  the  whole  scheme  of  Christian- 
ity.    It  therefore  demands  our  assent.   But  the  mode 


The  Trinity.  167 

of  its  existence  is  beyond  the  power  of  our  poor  concep- 
tion. Confusion  follows  every  proud  effort  to  fathom 
the  mysteries  of  the  Godhead.  "  He  maketh  darkness 
His  secret  place,  His  pavilion  round  about  Him 
with  dark  waters,  and  thick  clouds  to  cover  Him." 

So  much,  then,  for  mysteries  in  nature  as  leading 
us  to  expect  mysteries  in  religion.  We  would  go  on 
to  say,  however,  that  we  are  far  from  admitting  that 
every  seeming  difficulty  in  religion  is  a  real  difficulty. 
Some  things  are  by  some  minds  clothed  in  hues  far 
darker  than  they  really  are,  and  others  are  presented 
in  lights  far  brighter  than  they  should  be  ;  in  this 
way  unmeaning  words  and  unwarrantable  notions 
are  oftentimes  added  to  the  Scriptures,  and  they  are 
charged  with  saying  what  they  never  meant  to  say. 
It  sometimes  happens  that  men  who  are  far  from  re- 
jecting the  Scriptures,  yet  think  that  they  do  them 
an  essential  service  by  bringing  down  all  their  high 
mysteries  to  the  level  of  human  comprehension. 
Now  nothing  can  be  more  dangerous  than  this  habit 
of  explaining  things  away, — of  wresting  the  written 
lines  from  their  obvious  meaning,  to  fix  upon  them 
a  more  rational  interpretation.  The  sacred  authors 
are  not  to  have  a  forced  interpretation  put  upon  them 
only  to  suit  our  notions.  In  our  ignorance  and  con- 
ceit we  are  not  to  make  the  Scriptures  speak  what 
we  please,  in  opposition  to  what  they  really  deliver. 

The  obscurities  of  the  Scriptures  may  be  designed 
for  the  moral  exercise  of  our  understandings.  "We 
are  to  keep  close  to  God's  word.  We  are  not  pre- 
sumptuously to  exalt  our  reason  against  our  Maker. 


168  The  Trinity. 

The  obscurities  of  the  Scriptures  may  be  left  so  for 
the  wisest  motives.  In  the  scheme  of  Providence 
we  everj'where  perceive  the  strongest  evidence  of 
designing  wisdom  and  goodness ;  and  yet  are  there 
not  many  things  in  nature,  the  utilit}^  of  which  we 
perceive  not  ?  Yet  we  never  think  of  saying  that 
these  things  are  not  the  work  of  God  ;  we  never  doubt 
but  they  are  designed  for  good  ends.  And  so,  too,  in 
the  system  of  revelation ;  the  general  plan,  in  its 
evident  bearing,  is  adapted  to  promote  the  Divine 
honor,  and  human  virtue  and  happiness.  But  how 
some  particular  points  may  conduce  to  these  ends 
we  see  not,  yet  we  are  not  to  doubt  that  these  are 
parts  of  a  system  confessedly  wise  and  good.  And 
we  are  not  to  expect  to  comprehend  all  the  hidden 
connections  and  references  in  God's  moral  govern- 
ment, which  must  extend  to  eternity,  and  may  at 
this  moment  be  extending  to  worlds  far  beyond  our 
sight  and  knowledge. 

My  brethren,  is  it  not  the  most  unreasonable  of  all 
things  to  refuse  to  believe  anything  until  we  can  know 
the  reason  and  end  of  everything  ?  Is  it  not  the  most 
revolting  irreverence  scornfully  to  reject  the  teaching 
of  our  Creator,  only  because  we  cannot  understand 
all  His  reasons  and  trace  His  vast  designs  ?  With 
suicidal  infatuation  do  you  plunge  into  the  dark, 
fathomless,  raging,  shoreless  waters  of  unbelief,  only 
because  you  are  unable  to  measure  infinity  with  the 
finite  line  of  human  reason  ? 

But  we  must  come  now  to  lay  down  this  truth,  that 
there  is  no  essential  doctrine  of  the  Christian  Scrip- 


The  Trinity.  169 

tures  which  is  without  its  practical  influence  and 
purpose.  We  will  illustrate  this  by  inquiring  into 
the  importance  of  the  sacred  manifestations  of  the 
Deity  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  Is  it  a  mere 
theological  subtlety,  requiring  us  to  prostrate  the  un- 
derstanding without  any  influence  upon  the  heart  ? 
On  the  contrary,  my  brethren,  it  is  a  discovery  of  the 
true,  holy,  and  eternal  character  of  God  ;  and  it  just 
rests  with  you  to  determine  whether  the  revelation 
of  that  character  be  not  calculated  to  exert  the  most 
momentous  influence  over  the  whole  moral  existence 
of  him  who  receives  it.  And  it  strikes  me  that  to 
exhibit  the  Christian  revelation  without  this  doctrine 
is  to  rob  it  of  its  meaning  and  glory.  It  is  the  life- 
less skeleton  without  the  soul.  Now,  the  great  design 
of  all  revelation  is  to  draw  back  rebellious  man  to 
his  Creator.  It  is  to  rescue  him  from  the  impiu-e 
fascinations  of  the  outward  world — from  the  debase- 
ment of  his  senses.  It  is  to  restore  health  to  his 
diseased  heart,  to  restore  him  to  the  image  of  his 
Creator,  in  which  he  was  made,  and  to  bind  him  by 
every  holy  and  lofty  association  to  a  pure,  heartfelt, 
and  eternal  allegiance.  The  man,  then,  who  receives 
the  Deity  as  I  take  it  He  is  revealed  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, finds  himself  encircled  by  the  joys  of  everlasting 
love.  He  perceives  God  to  be  his  Father,  his  Saviour, 
and  unfailing  Comforter.  He  perceives  that  rebellion 
had  exposed  him  to  its  frightful  penalties,  but  the 
Father  has  not  abandoned  him  without  hope  to  this 
merited  forfeiture.     That  Father  yields  nothing  of 

His  jealous  and  inexorable  regard  for  His  own  honor, 

8 


170  The  Trinity. 

but  reveals  a  plan  of  mercy  which,  while  it  infinitely 
transcends  all  our  notions  of  clemency,  overpowers  us 
with  its  picture  of  the  terrific  enormity  of  human 
guilt.  The  Son  is  next  seen  assuming  our  nature  ; 
and  while  wielding  all  the  high  attributes  of  Divinity 
— omnipotence,  omniscience,  and  omnipresence — con- 
sents in  the  form  of  humanity  to  present  Himself  as 
a  spotless  lamb  for  the  sacrifice.  And  after  this  mani- 
festation of  the  requirements  of  justice,  after  this  ex- 
hibition once  made  of  the  eternal  connection  between 
sin  and  misery,  God  delights  to  dispense  the  fullest 
and  freest  mercy.  He  invites  the  degraded  victims 
of  transgression  and  the  rebellious  outcasts  of  every 
degree ; — yes,  they  are  now  most  tenderly  invited  to 
cast  away  their  guilt,  and  their  fears,  and  their  hatred 
of  the  divine  government,  and  to  come  back  as  re- 
pentant prodigals  to  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  to  be 
there  welcomed  and  cleansed  through  the  Spirit,  and 
pardoned  through  the  Son — to  be  reinstated  in  all  the 
high  privileges  of  children — to  be  made  nothing  less 
than  joint  heirs  with  Christ  in  the  vast  heritage  of 
eternal  felicity. 

The  Son  is  thus  seen  to  be  our  Mediator,  Saviour, 
and  Intercessor:  "The  way,  the  truth,  and  the  life." 
We  joyfully  repose  the  burden  of  our  sins  and  sor- 
rows upon  His  atonement,  strength,  and  life-giving 
virtue,  and  are  sustained  both  as  to  the  past,  the 
present,  and  the  future.  In  His  hands  the  honor  of  God 
and  the  safety  of  man  are  alike  secured.  The  claims 
of  the  law-giver,  and  the  hopes,  peace,  and  pardon 
of  the  offender,  are  equally  an  defi'ectually  recognized. 


The  Trinity.  171 

But  although  the  full  atonement  has  thus  been 
offered,  and  a  complete  reconciliation  effected  be- 
tween God  and  man,  through  the  mediation  of  the 
Son,  yet  we  are  assured  that  we  in  whose  behalf 
this  mediation  is  instituted,  would  not,  through  the 
ignorance,  pride,  and  degrading  passions  of  our 
nature,  accept  these  conditions  of  safety,  did  not  the 
Holy  Spirit  pour  His  illuminating  influence  upon  our 
understanding,  and  thus  soften  and  subdue  our  hearts. 

The  influence  of  the  Spirit  is  just  as  essential  to 
our  purity  and  eternal  welfare  as  the  love  of  the 
Father,  and  the  mediation  of  the  Son.  Indeed,  the 
whole  efficacy  of  the  Gospel  is  universally  ascribed 
to  the  exciting,  soothing,  and  restraining  influence  of 
the  Spirit.  The  rule  of  religion  is  built  up  and  sus- 
tained in  the  human  heart,  "not  by  power  or  might, 
but  by  ray  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord."  It  is  the  Spirit 
which  is  forever  working  its  way  into  the  dark  re- 
cesses of  the  bosom  of  guilt,  and  bringing  forth  there 
the  fruits  of  faith,  contrition,  and  holiness.  It  is  the 
Spirit  alone  that  can  arrest  attention  amid  the 
boisterous  cries  of  passion,  sooth  the  warring  aft'ec- 
tions,  open  the  history  of  redeeming  love  to  the  soul, 
stimulate  it  to  prayer,  lead  it  to  obedience,  and  pos- 
sess it  with  the  abiding  conviction  that  nothing  can 
be  so  unspeakably  precious  to  the  wants,  sorrows, 
and  flickering  inconstancy  of  the  heart  as  the  gift 
of  Christ. 

My  brethren,  how  practical  is  the  manifestation  of 
the  Deity !  How  intelligent,  how  pure,  how  conso- 
latory, becomes  our  intercourse  with  such   a  God! 


172  The  Trinity. 

How  essential  to  our  happiness  is  this  Father  of  un- 
bounded love !  How  efficient  to  sooth  the  wild  tu- 
mults which  the  reproaches  of  conscience  create,  is 
the  record  of  the  great  atonement  which  the  Son  has 
made!  How  deep  and  healing  the  aspirations  of 
prayer,  while  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  Comforter,  is  breath- 
ing His  whispers  of  peace  to  the  subdued  and  sancti- 
fied heart!  And  tell  me,  now,  of  what  part  of  this 
glorious  exliibition  of  the  Godhead  would  you  rob  us? 

Let  each  one  consult  his  own  heart,  with  its  weak- 
ness and  its  wants,  its  guilt  and  sadness,  and  then 
turn  to  this  doctrine,  interwoven  as  it  is  with  the 
very  texture  of  Christianity,  and  we  fear  not  for  the 
reply.  Talk  not  to  me  of  idle  dogmas.  Talk  not  of 
a  dry  and  unprofitable  subtlety.  Can  that  teaching 
be  unimpressive  and  nothing  worth  which  unfolds 
to  us  the  effective  character  of  the  Deity,  and  the 
unutterable  value  of  the  human  soul  ? — which  shows 
us  the  tender  anxiety  of  God  to  rescue  that  soul  from 
the  perils  of  its  degraded  condition?— which  shows 
us  the  fearful  malignity  of  moral  evil,  and  the  sin- 
ner's sure  refuge  from  its  final  desolation  ? 

Ah !  my  brethren,  let  us  be  content  to  receive 
joyfully  the  great  facts  of  revealed  trutli,  although 
all  reasons  and  methods  of  being,  beyond  those  facts, 
are  hid  from  our  view.  Yes,  touched  by  the  affecting 
tenderness  of  God — oppressed  with  the  sense  of 
guilt,  weighed  down  by  sorrow  and  convinced  of  the 
insufficiency  of  the  world  to  make  us  happy,  let  us 
seek  for  safety  and  repose  under  the  almighty  Shield 
which  is  offered  to  us  by  the  Father ^  the  Son^  and 
the  Holy  Ghost! 


THE  SIN  UNTO  DEATH. 


'•'■  If  any  man  see  his  brother  sin  a  sin  which  is  not  unto  death,  he 
shall  ask,  and  He  shall  give  him  life  for  them  that  sin  not  unto  death. 
There  is  a  sin  unto  death  :  I  do  not  say  that  he  shall  pray  for  it." 

1st  John  5ih,  IGth. 

HE  explanations  which  have  sometimes 
been  given  to  this  obscure  passage  of 
Scripture  are  so  manifestly  unsound  and 
illiberal  as  to  strike  at  the  root  of  all 
moral  responsibility,  and  destroy  the  first  principles 
of  human  charity.  Although  it  may  not  always  be 
consistent  with  the  modesty  of  true  wisdom  to  teach 
with  positiveness  upon  the  mysterious  and  obscure 
allusions  of  the  sacred  writers,  yet  will  it  ever  be 
the  privilege  of  sound  learning  to  expose  the  false- 
hood and  absurdity  of  such  interpretations  of  narrow 
ignorance  as  would  cast  a  shade  over  the  glory  of 
the  divine  character,  darken  the  human  understand- 
ing, and  chill  the  benevolence  of  the  heart.  Much 
of  the  obscurity  to  be  found  in  the  Scriptures  is,  no 
doubt,  to  be  referred  to  their  allusions  to  local  circum- 
stances, ever-changing  customs,  and  to  the  peculiari- 
ties of  a  miraculous  age.  The  difficulty  which  my 
text  presents  to  the  minds  of  ordinary  readers  is  a 


174  The  Sin  unto  Death. 

remarkable  instance  of  this  sort.  In  inquiring  for 
the  true  meaning  of  the  verse,  it  will  be  my  object  to 
show  you  that  it  has  no  reference  or  connection  with 
eternal  life  or  eternal  death,  but  was  written  in 
allusion  to  the  miraculous  gifts  which  were  bestowed 
upon  the  fii'st  preachers  of  the  Gospel,  and  through 
which  they  were  enabled  to  remove  the  temporal 
punishments  of  sickness  and  suifering  with  which 
sin  was  visited. 

"  There  is  a  sin  unto  death :  I  do  not  say  that 
ye  shall  pray  for  it."  There  is  something  terrific 
and  appalling  in  the  words,  to  every  mind  that  makes 
a  literal  and  universal  application  of  every  sentence 
of  Holy  "Writ.  What  is  the  tremendous  crime, 
they  instinctively  ask,  which  renders  condemnation 
unavoidable,  and  to  which  the  cries  and  prayers  of 
Christian  sympathy  are  utterly  denied  ?  That  it 
cannot  be  any  of  the  most  notorious  and  daring  of 
offences  against  the  inflexible  rectitude  of  tlie  Divine 
law,  or  the  most  sacred  institutions  of  human  society 
of  which  we  can  conceive,  is  evident  from  the  fact 
that  some  of  the  best  men  that  have  lived  in  every 
age  of  the  world  have  been  guilty  of  some  of  these 
crimes,  but  upon  repentance  and  reformation  have 
been  forgiven,  and  planted  as  guiding  lights  to  safe- 
ty in  the  path  to  glory.  There  is  no  human  being 
to  be  found  in  whose  bosom  the  blossoms  of  inno- 
cence have  not  been  blighted,  or  in  whose  life  the 
rigors  of  virtue  were  never  relaxed.  And  I  lay  it 
down  as  a  maxim  irresistibly  clear  from  the  whole 
tenor   of  the  Scriptures,  that  there  is  no  sin,  how- 


The  Sin  unto  Death.  1Y5 

ever  malignant  in  itself  or  aggravated  by  the  circum- 
stances of  its  commission,  that  shuts  the  door  of  the 
Divine  mercy  against  tlie  sinner,  or  excludes  him 
from  the  possibility  of  pardon.  The  consequence 
which  I  deduce  from  this  maxim  is,  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  every  Christian  to  pray  for  the  forgiveness 
and  salvation  of  every  sinner,  whatever  may  be  the 
number  or  magnitude  of  his  sins.  It  is  impossible, 
therefore,  to  suppose  that  the  Apostle  ever  meant  to 
teach  that  the  prayers  of  Christians  were  to  be  with- 
held from  sinners.  From  a  doctrine  so  inhuman, 
80  uncharitable  and  blighting,  the  most  pernicious 
and  destructive  consequences  would  ensue.  Harmo- 
ny and  sweet  peace  would  bid  adieu  to  the  habitations 
of  men.  The  flames  of  animosity  and  bitter  hatred, 
fanned  by  the  breath  of  selfish  conceit  and  spiritual 
pride,  would  rage  through  all  the  departtnents  of 
human  society.  Every  sect  and  division  of  Chris- 
tian men,  limiting  the  orthodoxy  of  belief  and  the 
purity  of  practice  within  the  narrow  circle  of  their 
own  self-erected  standards,  would  soon  come  to 
regard  all  others  as  hopeless  and  abandoned  sinners 
and  apostates  ;  and  instead  of  pouring  forth  prayers 
from  hearts  full  of  the  tenderness  of  Christian  chari- 
ty for  their  reformation  and  eternal  felicity,  they 
would  rather,  by  the  warrant  of  their  doctrine,  con- 
sign them,  in  the  narrowness  of  blighting  self-com- 
placency, to  the  woes  of  everlasting  perdition. 

My  brethren,  there  can  be  no  question  but  that 
some  feelings  of  this  kind  have  served  to  diffuse  their 
malignant  poison  of  exclusiveness  and   secret  hate 


176  The  Sin  unto  Death. 

through  the  ranks  of  Christendom.  It  is  from  this 
cause  that  we  have  so  often  beheld  humanity  bleed- 
ing as  a  victim  on  the  altar  of  cruelty,  and  the  fair 
face  of  charity  stained  and  bloated  with  the  blood  of 
persecution. 

But  the  conclusion  is  instantly  and  irresistibly 
received,  that  no  doctrine  productive  in  the  remotest 
degree  of  any  such  effects  can  ever  be  derived  from 
that  religion  whose  emblem  and  whose  only  end  is 
charity,  which  requires  us  to  live  like  one  wide 
family,  bound  together  in  the  bands  of  indissoluble 
love,  and  preserving  always  the  "unity  of  the  spirit 
in  the  bond  of  peace." 

If,  then,  the  Apostle  did  not  mean  to  say  that  any 
human  crime  was  so  deadly  as  to  place  the  wretched 
victim  beyond  the  reach  of  everlasting  mercy,  as  it 
has  been  purchased  by  the  saving  blood  of  Christ, 
and  if  he  did  not  mean  to  forbid  or  check  the  gene- 
rous impulse  of  nature  which  leads  us  to  seek  by  prayer 
to  enlist  Almighty  strength  in  ^id  of  human  weakness, 
and  to  secure  pardon  for  human  infirmity,  then  the 
question  recurs  as  to  the  true  meaning  of  the  text, 

I  think,  my  brethren,  that  no  one  can  read  the 
chapter  from  which  the  words  are  taken,  with  judg- 
ment and  candor,  and  with  a  constant  recollection 
of  the  miraculous  cures  which  were  performed  through 
the  efficacy  of  prayer  at  that  period  of  the  Church,  but 
must  perceive  that  the  Apostle  is  not  treating  of 
future  salvation,  but  only  of  the  recovery  of  sinners 
from  such  diseases  as  were  at  that  day  the  direct 
consequences  of  sin. 


The  Sin  unto  Death.  177 

"  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  tliee  "  was  our  Lord's  usual 
form  of  expression  when,  by  the  instantaneous  exertion 
of  His  Divine  power,  He  healed  the  sick,  and  by 
which  we  are  not  to  understand  spiritual  deliverance, 
so  much  as  the  remission  of  a  temporal  punishment 
of  sin.  The  words  of  the  text,  "let  him  ask,  and 
He  shall  give  him  life  for  them  that  sin  not  unto 
death,"  are  precisely  parallel  with  those  of  St.  James 
(5th  chap.,  15th  verse),  "  The  prayer  of  Faith  shall 
save  the  sick,  and  the  Lord  shall  raise  him  up."  It 
is  expressly  promised  that  where  the  prayer  of  the 
ministers  of  Christ  was  attended  by  that  faith  in  God, 
which,  as  a  miraculous  and  extraordinary  gift,  was 
capable  of  performing  the  most  difficult  and  extra- 
ordinary things,  even  to  the  removing  of  mountains, 
it  would  always  be  successful  in  raising  up  the  sick 
from  their  beds  of  suffering.  In  connection  with 
these  words  from  St.  James,  it  is  also  said,  "  And  if 
he  hath  committed  sins,  they  shall  be  forgiven  him." 
Meaning  clearly  such  sins  as  God  is  pleased  promptly 
to  chastise  witli  bodily  disease,  as  He  did  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  at  Corinth,  who  on  account  of 
their  disorderly  abuse  of  the  Lord's  supper  were 
rendered  sick  and  weakly,  and  many  passed  into  the 
sleep  of  death. 

Wherever,  therefore,  the  sickness  was  in  the  way 
of  chastisement,  delivery  from  the  sickness  was  an 
evidence  of  God's  forgiveness.  Wliile  I  thus  strive 
to  illustrate  the  nature  of  the  deliverance  which  was 
at  that  time  effected  by  the  prayer  of  Faith,  I  cannot 
leave  the  fifthchapter  of  St.  James's  Epistle  without 


178  Th&  Sin  unto  Death. 

seizing  upon  the  occasion  to  draw  your  attention  to 
that  ancient  ceremony  of  anointing  with  oil  there 
spoken  of,  and  from  which  a  large  branch  of  the 
Christian  Church  have  drawn  their  '*'  sacrament  of 
extreme  unction."  It  was  a  very  ancient  custom  of 
Eastern  nations  to  employ  oil  in  the  cure  of  diseases, 
and  it  would  seem  that  the  Apostle  directed  the 
natural  remedy  to  be  continued,  with  a  constant 
reference  to  the  Lord  of  Life,  from  whom  alone  the 
blessing  was  to  come.  But  I  must  profess  myself 
utterly  unable  to  discover  what  foundation  can  be 
found  to  build  up  a  perpetual  sacrament  from  an 
accidental  usage,  only  connected  with  extraordinary 
powers  of  healing  the  sick — a  sacrament  now  deemed 
proper  only  for  the  dying — from  a  ceremony  employed 

to   PREVENT   PERSONS    FROM   DYING.       IIoW,  I    Say,  it   is 

possible  to  derive  authority  for  using  extreme  unc- 
tion from  an  unction  which  was  so  far  from  being 
extreme,  that  it  was  expressly  used  to  prolong  life. 

But  I  must  return  to  our  text.  "  If  any  man  see 
his  brother  sin  a  sin  not  unto  death,  he  shall  ask, 
and  He  shall  give  him  life  for  them  that  sin  not  unto 
death,"  These  words,  we  repeat,  have  a  direct  ref- 
erence to  minor  sins,  which  were  visited  with  bodily 
sufferings.  "  There  is  a  sin  unto  death.  I  do  not 
say  that  he  shall  pray  for  it !  "  And  wdiat  sin  was 
that?  Most  probably,  brethren,  any  sin  to  which 
the  punishment  of  death  was  attached  by  the  laws 
of  the  land.  Christ  did  not  come  to  arrest  the  laws 
of  Cffisar,  and  the  Apostle  says  no  more  than  that 
he  who,  by  the  enormity  of  his  offence,  had  forfeited 


The  Sin  unto  Death.  179 

his  life  to  the  laws  of  his  country,  had  no  warrant 
for  expecting  deliverance,  even  through  the  miracu- 
lous prayer  of  faith.  Or  else  it  might  have  refer- 
ence to  the  deadly  sin  of  apostasy  from  the  faith  of 
Christ,  and  if  God  saw  fit  to  visit  the  crime  with 
sickness  unto  death,  the  Apostle  only  says  that  he 
knows  not  if  it  would  be  right  in  them  to  pray 
that  he  might  be  continued  on  the  earth,  only  as 
an  instrument  of  persecution  and  mischief  to  the 
Church.  This  I  consider  sufficient  for  the  proper 
understanding  of  the  passage.  It  is  enough  for  us 
to  know  that  it  has  a  local  and  peculiar  bearing, — 
has  reference  exclusively  to  a  miraculous  condition 
of  things,  and  can  by  no  possibility  be  made  to  apply 
to  after  ages  or  present  persons. 

Some  interpreters  of  the  Scriptures  have  supposed 
the  "  sin  unto  death  "  here  spoken  of  to  be  the  same 
as  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  which  a  most 
fearful  penalty  was  annexed  by  our  Lord.  But  the 
error  of  this  will  be  manifest  when  we  remember 
that  the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  our  Saviour 
states  it,  consisted  in  the  daring  impiety  of  making 
a  wilful  and  blasphemous  imputation  of  those  stu- 
pendous miracles  which  they  knew  to  be  performed 
by  the  power  of  God,  to  the  power  of  the  devil. 
It  was  an  obstinate  and  presumptuous  resistance  of 
the  highest  evidence  God  could  give  in  support  of 
the  truth.  It  was  a  crime  committed  by  Scribes  and 
Pharisees,  by  Jews  and  Heathens,  but  never  was, 
and  never  can  be,  committed  by  a  Christian.  But 
the  sin  unto  death  spoken  of  in  the  text  is  said  to 


180  The  Sin  unto  Death. 

have  been  committed  by  a  brother — that  is,  by  one 
that  had  embraced  the  Gospel,  had  been  baptized, 
and  made  a  public  profession  of  the  religion  of 
Christ.  And  hence  I  conclude  that  the  sin  to  which 
the  text  refers  is  altogether  a  distinct  thing  from 
the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  one  has  ref- 
erence to  temporal  sickness  and  death  ;  for  the  other 
forgiveness  was  not  to  be  expected,  either  in  this 
world  or  in  the  world  to  come. 

But  now,  my  brethren,  although  there  can  be  no 
application  of  this  particular  text  to  our  times  or 
characters,  and  nothing  is  found  in  it  to  check  the 
rising  prayer  of  Christian  sympathy  in  behalf  of 
the  most  debased  and  hardened  wretch  that  ever 
gloried  in  his  proud  rebellion  against  the  Majesty 
of  Heaven,  and  gentle  spirits  are  thus  relieved  from 
an  unreasonable  and  groundless  cause  of  alarm  and 
anxiety,  yet  the  occasion  must  not  pass  until  I 
have  pointed  you  to  the  long  black  catalogue  of  sins, 
against  eacli  of  which  the  punishment  of  death  has 
been  written  by  the  finger  of  Divinity, — a  death 
infinitely  more  to  be  dreaded  by  every  rational  soul 
than  that  of  which  the  Apostle  spoke.  It  is  the 
second  death,  the  eternal  death,  the  irretrievable 
loss  of  the  soul  to  all  purposes  of  elevation  and  hap- 
piness !  Here  is  indeed  ground  for  the  most  con- 
stant and  anxious  fear  in  every  bosom  that  hears  me. 
Here  is  indeed  the  prospect  of  punishment,  to  avert 
which  the  most  earnest  prayers  of  faith,  for  ourselves 
and  for  each  other,  may  well  be  addi'essed  in  pierc- 
ing cries  to  the  merciful  ear  of  Heaven  !     But  it  is 


The  Sin  unto  Death.  181 

a  penalty  against  wliicli  no  prayer  can  prevail, 
unless  the  subject  himself  shall  consent  to  obey  the 
gentle  persuasion  of  God's  Spirit,  always  working 
in  his  heart.  To  obey,  I  say,  the  gracious  leading 
of  the  Divine  Grace,  so  far  as  to  break  away  from 
the  sin  that,  in  its  deceitful  witchery,  is  leading  him 
to  the  awful  precipice  of  everlasting  degradation 
and  ruin.  The  punishment  of  which  we  speak  is 
that  before  which  the  wicked,  while  trembling  in 
the  hour  of  judgment,  will  raise  their  woful  and  vain 
invocation  to  the  rocks  and  the  mountains  to  fall 
upon  them,  and  hide  them  froni  the  face  of  Him 
that  sitteth  on  the  Throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of 
the  Lamb. 

How  dreadful  is  this  language  of  insupportable 
misery!  How  wild  and  startling  is  the  ejaculation 
of  settled  despair ! 

So  strong,  my  brethren,  is  the  love  of  life  in  the 
nature  we  bear,  and  so  terrifying  is  any  prospect  of 
annihilation,  that  while  one  ray  of  hope  remains,  no 
elFort  will  be  spared  to  save  ourselves  from  destruction. 
What,  then,  can  more  strikingly  evince  the  inex- 
pressible horror  with  which  the  wicked  will  contem- 
plate the  destiny  before  them  in  the  hour  of  judgment 
than  the  image  of  the  Scriptures,  in  which  they  are 
represented  as  seeking  to  be  blotted  into  absolute 
oblivion  from  the  works  of  God !  Life,  which  on 
earth  was  the  supreme  object  of  hope,  becomes  then 
the  supreme  object  of  dread.  And  death,  which  here 
was  more  to  be  avoided  than  all  things  else,  becomes 
now  the  one  great  object  of  desire  and  prayer.   All  the 


182  Tlie  Sin  unto  Death. 

original  instincts  of  nature  are  inverted  and  destroyed 
by  the  overwhelming  consciousness  of  guilt  and  the 
proper  desert  that  awaits  it,  and  to  which  their  eyes 
are  now  fairly  opened.  Even  the  strong  principle  of 
self-preservation  is  overcome  by  the  hopeless  apprehen- 
sion of  suffering.  Oh !  I  can  fancy  that  I  see  the 
wretched  victim  of  crime,  as  he  starts  from  his  dream 
of  folly,  and  awakening  to  a  full  sense  of  all  that  he 
has  lost,  and  of  all  the  bitter  fruits  that  he  is  doomed 
to  gather,  as  the  return  of  his  own  vicious  sowing ; 
and  in  the  vain  rage  of  his  tumultuous  feelings  and 
appalled  imagination,  he  calls  upon  the  deaf  earth  to 
conceal  him  in  its  hollow  caverns,  and  invokes  the 
everlasting  rocks  to  crush  him  into  nothing,  so  that 
he  might  escape  from  the  corroding  reproaches  of 
conscience, — from  the  withering  frown  of  Him  that 
sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  from  the  reproachful  eye 
of  the  Lamb,  whose  saving  truths  of  gentleness  and 
mercy  he  has  despised — whose  redeeming  blood  and 
persuading  tears  he  has  laughed  to  scorn.  Who,  oh ! 
w^io  are  they  who  will  thus  seek  to  hide  themselves 
in  the  dark  caves  of  the  earth,  and  cry  to  the  vast 
mountains  to  cover  them  forever  and  ever?  My 
brethren,  they  are  the  kings  of  the  earth,  and  the  beg- 
gars in  their  tattered  raiment.  They  are  the  great 
men,  and  the  men  unknown  to  fame — the  chief  cap- 
tains and  the  common  soldiery  in  the  battles  of  time ; 
they  are  the  scoffers  and  the  hypocrites  of  every  rank 
in  life,  and  the  common  abusers  of  God's  freedom  and 
immortal  privileges.  They  are  all  those  who  are 
here  polluted  with  unpurity,  stained  with  the  blood  of 


The  Sin  unto  Death.  183 

cruelty,  and  branded  with  dissimulation,  injustice,  and 
dishonesty.  All,  all  of  these  must  depart  in  speech- 
less submission  from  the  light,  liberty,  comfort,  and 
glory  of  heaven,  and  descend  into  the  darkness,  the 
bondage,  the  sorrow,  and  infamy  of  debased  and  lost 
spirits.  The  splendor  of  diadems,  the  glare  of  wealth, 
the  lustre  of  birth,  the  pride  of  learning,  the  renown 
of  victories,  and  the  pompof  power  will  avail  them  not 
against  the  eternal  decisions  of  Unerring  Rectitude, 
as  it  proceeds  to  vindicate  the  impartial  justice  of  its 
outraged  laws;  and  they  shall  all  be  compelled  to 
give  evidence  even  "to  the  teeth  and  forehead  of  their 
faults." 

Great  God !  who  in  the  day  of  Thy  wrath  shall  be 
able  to  stand  before  Thee,  in  a  spotless  robe  of  his 
own  righteousness  ?  Merciful  Saviour !  who  may  not 
thus  stand  before  Thee,  in  garments  of  stainless  white, 
if  he  will  but  be  persuaded  to  wash  them  in  the  foun- 
tain which  Thou  hast  freely  opened  for  "  sin  and  for 
uncleanness  ? "  My  brethren,  there  are  sins  unto 
death;  and  can  it  be  conceived  possible  that  any 
thinking  being  should  know  that  the  hour  is  coming 
when  the  unbelieving,  the  unholy,  and  the  impeni- 
tent—the wicked  of  every  class — shall  be  involved 
in  shame,  consternation,  and  ruin ;  that  the  presump- 
tion of  the  infidel  shall  be  confounded,  and  the  im- 
pudence of  the  profligate  abashed ;  the  hypocrite 
stripped  of  his  mask ;  the  secrets  of  all  hearts  laid 
open ;  and  that  all  of  the  workers  of  iniquity  shall  go 
where  furies  dwell  and  devils  rage ;  where  the  laugh 
of  gladness  is  never  heard,  and  no  angel's  voice  shall 


184  The  Sin  unto  Death. 

ever  proclaim  a  release  or  a  jubilee  — can  it  be  pos- 
sible, with  this  prospect  before  us,  with  a  certainty 
from  which  no  arguments  of  reason  or  religion  can 
relieve  us,  that  crime  must  at  some  period  of  dura- 
tion meet  with  its  desert — can  it  be  that  we  will 
yet  continue  to  live  in  the  deliberate  commission  of 
those  known  sins  which  are  thus  to  sink  the  soul? 

Oh,  no !  my  brethren,  it  is  not  possible,  that  if 
these  things  were  kept  steadily  before  the  eye  of 
faith,  the  blandishments  of  this  false  and  fading 
world  should  any  longer  have  power  to  seduce  us 
from  the  paths  of  innocence  and  safety.  The  mo- 
mentary pleasures  of  time  would  lose  their  charms, 
and  the  painted  beauties  of  iniquity  would  glare 
hideously  in  our  ej^es.  The  impure  transports  of  sen- 
suality would  shock  the  delicacy  of  our  hearts,  and 
the  perversion  of  God's  sacred  gift  of  intellect  to 
purj)oses  of  deception,  corruption,  and  fraud  would 
revolt  every  generous  feeling  of  our  nature.  The 
lustre  of  gold  would  no  longer  make  us  covetous  or 
dishonest ;  nor  would  the  splendor  of  power  make  us 
criminally  ambitious.  Our  own  treasures  of  learning 
would  not  make  us  contemptuously  proud,  nor  would 
the  more  brilliant  attainments  of  others  provoke  us 
to  the  guilt  of  jealous  hatred ;  the  possession  of  wealth 
and  power  would  not  corrupt  us  to  their  abuse,  nor 
would  the  remembrance  of  injuries  lead  us  to  revenge 
and  cruelty ;  but  rather  would  an  abiding  sense  of 
the  solemn  truths  of  God — of  the  great  realities  before 
us — of  the  high  and  overpowering  destinies  of  our 
nature,  sustain  us  in  a  cause  of  consistent  and  unfal- 


The  Sin  unto  Death.  185 

tering  virtue.  "  "Watch  ye,  therefore,  and  pray  al- 
ways, that  ye  may  be  counted  worthy  to  escape  all 
these  things  that  shall  come  to  pass,  and  to  stand  be- 
fore the  Son  of  Man  ! " 

My  friends,  upon  a  subject  like  this  I  would  present 
you  with  no  glaring  images ;  I  would  startle  your 
imagination  with  no  exaggerated  metaphors  ;  I  would 
labor  at  no  horrid  and  terror-striking  descriptions  in 
order  to  fill  your  hearts  with  tumultuous  alarm  and 
dread ;  but  I  would  come  openly  and  frankly  to  your 
understanding ;  I  would  address  the  nobler  feelings 
of  your  hearts ;  I  would  appeal  to  the  laws  of  mind, 
the  dictates  of  reason,  and  the  strong  instincts  and 
analogies  of  nature,  so  to  convince  you  of  the  vast 
importance  of  immortal  truth,  that  conscience  may 
be  always  awake  to  the  insidious  advances  of  evil, 
and  that  Christian  virtue  may  be  always  strong,  in 
the  strength  of  God's  Holy  Spirit,  to  resist  the  torrent 
of  folly  and  crime. 

But  alas!  my  brethren,  it  is  so,  that  as  the  clouds 
which  in  a  dark  and  wintry  day  are  suspended  over 
us  and  hide  from  our  view  the  beauty  of  the  blue  sky 
and  the  gorgeous  brightness  of  the  sun,  so  tlie  clouds 
of  passion  and  of  vice  which,  in  this  career  of  folly, 
are  suspended  over  our  souls,  to  fatally  conceal  from 
us  the  unchanging  beauty  of  the  Heaven  of  Hea- 
vens, and  prevent  us  from  feeding  our  sacred  hopes 
on  the  unfading  brightness  of  its  glories. 

But  the  hour  is  before  us — the  hour  of  sickness  and 
death — in  which  the  clouds  will  all  be  dispersed ; 
when  the  clamors  of  passion  will  be  heard  no  longer, 


186 


TJie  Sin  unto  Death. 


and  the  world,  with  its  bewitching  vanities,  will  fade 
from  onr  eyes,  and  the  broad,  trackless  ocean  of 
eternity  will  be  spread  before  us.  It  is  then  that  we 
shall  think  of  the  inheritance  prepared  for  the  saints 
in  light,  of  the  society  of  angels,  of  Jesus  the  Medi- 
ator, and  God  the  Judge  of  all. 

May  the  Spirit  of  the  God  we  serve  be  ever  now- 
present  with  us,  so  as  to  train  our  undying  spirits 
with  its  exciting  and  restraining  sanctions;  that  we 
may  at  the  last  dwell  with  joy  unspeakable  upon  the 
boundless  contemplation. 


Mnmiina 


CHRISTIAN  PRINCIPLES  THE  RULING  MOTIVES 
OF  OUR  LIVES. 

'■'■  Whatsoever  ye  do  in  word  or  deed.,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 

Colossians  3d,  llth. 

HIS  precept  of  the  Apostle  is  equivalent 
to  an  exhortation  to  Christians  to  make 
the  great  principles  of  their  religion  the 
actuating  motives  and  all-controlling  laws 
of  their  conduct.  To  do  everything  "  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  does  not  mean  that  every  word 
we  utter  and  every  action  we  perform  should  be 
accompanied  with  an  audible  acknowledgment  of 
our  submission  to  the  sovereignty  of  Christ.  This 
would  be  the  extreme  of  pharisaical  ostentation,  and 
a  mournful  exhibition  of  the  wildest  fanaticism. 
But  the  precept  does  mean  that  the  ruling  spirit 
and  prevailing  tone  of  our  characters  and  our  con- 
versation should  be  formed  and  regulated  by  the 
teaching  we  have  received  as  disciples  of  the  Son  of 
God.  It  means,  that  in  every  word  and  action  of 
our  lives,  capable  of  being  referred  to  the  Divine 
will,  we  should  strive  to  realize  a  wise  sense  of  the 
Divine  presence,  and  of  our  responsibility  to  Him 


188     Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motmes. 

for.  all  the  light  and  all  the  privileges  with  which 
He  has  blessed  us,  as  the  redeemed  spirits  of  His 
love. 

My  brethren,  the  precept  means,  that  as  beings 
bearing  the  name  of  Christ,  it  becomes  ns  to  be 
always  alive  to  the  necessity  of  illustrating  the 
principles  of  our  Divine  Master  in  every  word  and 
action  of  our  lives  ;  that  in  the  whole  course  of 
our  conduct  and  conversation  we  should  evince  the 
most  unfaltering  determination  to  imitate  and  obey 
Him  in  all  that  He  has  done  and  in  all  that  He  has 
commanded.  It  means  simply,  that  as  Christians 
we  must  take  care  that  Christian  principles  be  the 
ruling  motive  of  our  actions.  Now,  surely  nothing 
can  be  more  reasonable  and  clearly  proper  than  this, 
for  if  we  are  all  the  creatures  of  a  common  Creator, 
and  the  dependent  subjects  of  one  great  moral  Gov- 
ernor, then  must  our  obedience  be  rendered  to  Him 
just  in  the  way  and  manner  in  which  it  may  have 
pleased  Him  to  reveal  His  will. 

If  the  mode  of  obedience  and  the  motive  of  obe- 
dience have  been  clearly  prescribed,  then  can  it  be  for 
men  to  say  that  their  doings  will  be  acceptable  to  God, 
although  they  choose  to  live  and  labor  without  any 
sort  of  regard  to  the  requirements  of  His  law  ?  If  the 
principles  of  obedience  which  the  Creator  has  pre- 
scribed be  few  in  number,  clear  in  their  requirements, 
and  powerful  in  their  influence,  then  is  the  neglect  of 
them  more  presumptuous  and  more  inexcusable,  and 
more  dark  and  more  dreadful  must  be  the  crime.  I 
think  that  you  must  begin  to  perceive,  my  brethren, 


Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motives.     189 

that  when  the  Apostle  says,  "  Whatever  ye  do  in 
word  or  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus," 
he  lays  down  a  proposition  simple  in  its  language,  but 
broad  and  all-pervading  in  its  nature.  He  lays  down 
the  Divine  principle  upon  which  every  duty  rests,  as 
upon  its  true  and  proper  basis.  He  tells  us  emphati- 
cally that  whatever  duties  have  been  charged  upon 
our  consciences  by  precepts,  and  whatsoever  practice 
has  been  enforced  by  example,  it  is  through  their 
union  with  the  Christian  faith  that  their  moral  obli- 
gation has  been  constituted  and  confirmed.  It  is  thus 
that  we  are  enabled  to  see  how  it  is  that  the  faith  and 
the  morals  of  the  Gospel  are  inseparably  joined  to- 
gether ;  how  it  is  that  they  mutually  support  and 
confirm  each  other.  We  see  that  the  connecting  and 
indissoluble  chain  which  binds  the  whole  is  the  "  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus."  It  is  the  spirit,  the  authority, 
the  command  of  his  Master  and  Redeemer,  which  in 
the  breast  of  every  Christian  ought  to  bind  precept 
with  practice ;  the  doctrine  of  faith  with  the  duties 
of  life  in  everlasting  union,  and  giving  reality  to  the 
whole ;  enriching  faith  with  the  power  of  practical 
obedience,  and  sanctifying  the  actions  of  every-day 
life  as  being  the  natural  fruits  of  an  humble  and  lively 
faith.  Whatever,  then,  my  brethren,  may  be  the  field 
in  which  we  may  be  required  to  labor  as  the  servants 
of  the  common  Master — wherever  our  lot  may  be  cast, 
in  high  life  or  in  low,  amid  arduous  or  perilous  scenes, 
or  in  tranquil  and  cheering  duties — yet  let  every  action 
be  governed,  every  thought  be  controlled,  and  every 
duty  enforced,  by  those  eternal  principles  to  which 


190     Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motives. 

the  "  name  of  Jesus  "  gives  all-pervading  authority 
and  everlasting  worth.  Christian  conduct,  springing 
from  Christian  motives,  was  one  great  end  which 
Christ  descended  to  this  earth  to  illustrate  and  en- 
force. It  was  for  this  that  He  toiled  and  taught. 
It  was  for  this  that  He  established  His  Church,  en- 
riched it  with  the  high  and  ennobling  doctrines  of  His 
Gospel,  and  appointed  in  it  His  perpetual  order  of 
ministering  agents  to  extend  its  empire.  How  false 
and  fatal  then,  my  brethren,  is  the  notion  that,  while 
the  practical  duties  of  Christianity  are  all-important 
to  all  men,  yet  that  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  faith 
are  not  so  decidely  essential.  Now,  if  by  the  doc- 
TKiNES  OF  FAPiH  be  meant  the  varying  shades  of 
opinion  in  the  Christian  world — if  they  are  to  be 
judged  by  the  amount  of  virtue  which  they  recipro- 
cally produce — do  not  differ  essentially  one  from  the 
other,  I  reply  that  I  stop  not  to  argue  that  point.  But 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  it  be  said  that  the  reception  of 
Christianity  as  a  revelation  of  the  requirements  of  God 
is  not  a  matter  of  essential  importance,  provided  the 
virtues  of  practical  life  be  equivalent  to  what  Chris- 
tianity is  seen  to  produce,  then  do  I  say  there  never 
was  a  more  serious  delusion.  My  brethren,  if  there 
be  any  principle  in  the  heart  leading  to  moral  duties, 
then  that  principle  must  derive  its  power  from  the 
idea  of  the  Supreme  Moral  Governor,  and  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  obedience  to  His  will. 

But  how  is  any  knowledge  of  the  Deity  sufficiently 
clear  and  distinct  to  influence  the  conscience  to  be 
obtained,  without  some  revelation  from  Himself  of 


Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motives.     191 

His  nature  and  His  will  ?  Yirtne  and  vice  are  terms 
strictly  relative,  and  always  refer  to  some  standard 
right,  and  there  can  be  no  such  standard  independent 
of  some  law  from  the  Supreme  Ruler.  Conscience  is 
in  itself  a  blind  and  uncertain  guide — an  arbitrary 
and  capricious  judge  of  duty.  It  is  misled  by  educa- 
tion ;  it  is  deluded  by  fancy ;  it  is  stupified  by  habit; 
and  it  is  perverted  and  destroyed  by  passion.  If, 
then,  a  knowledge  of  the  Deity,  and  of  the  require- 
ments of  His  will,  abundantly  sufficient  and  satisfac- 
tory for  all  the  ends  of  practical  obedience,  has  actually 
been  given  to  the  world,  can  it  be  possible  that  any 
man  is  at  liberty  to  denominate  such  a  revelation  a 
mere  system  of  speculative  and  abstract  doctrines, 
which  may  be  received  or  discarded  with  impunity, 
as  caprice  may  dictate  or  fancy  direct  ?  If  the  motive 
to  obedience  and  the  mode  of  obedience  be  both  pre- 
scribed from  above,  then  the  wilful  neglect  of  either 
the  one  or  the  other  must  be  alike  presumptuous  and 
wicked,  No  man  can  come  acceptably  to  Grod,  or 
be  an  object  of  Divine  favor,  whose  character  is  not 
formed  on  those  principles  which  God  has  seen  fit  to 
prescribe  as  the  rules  of  his  life.  Nothing,  I  think, 
can  possibly  be  clearer  than  this.  Nothing  can  be 
clearer  than  that  to  pretend  to  arrogate  merit  to  our- 
selves before  God  for  a  course  of  life  which  we  pursue, 
either  without  any  regard  to  His  will,  or  else  in  di- 
rect opposition  to  what  he  has  required,  is  dark  and 
flagrant  impiety. 

Nothing,  again,  can,  I  think,  be  clearer  than  that, 
if  the  Divine  will  has  been  made  known,  it  must  be 


192     Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motives. 

promptly  and  unhesitatingly  obeyed,  and  obeyed  uni- 
versally and  always ;  not  occasionally  consulted  as  a 
temporary  counsellor,  but  steadily  followed  as  a  per- 
petual guide.  The  Son  of  God  has  visited  this  sin- 
stained  earth,  not  merely  to  instruct  us  in  certain 
particulars  of  duty,  but  rather  to  shed  the  divine 
light  upon  the  whole  system  of  life.  He  did  not  come 
to  excite  us  to  occasional  bursts  of  zeal,  but  rather  to 
train  us  to  steady  habits  of  virtue.  Being,  then,  thus 
taught  of  Heaven,  he  alone  is  the  true  servant  of  God 
who  exercises  a  universal  vigilance,  and  cherishes 
perpetually  the  full  purpose  of  obedience ;  who 
guards  the  issues  of  his  heart,  and  strives  to  bring 
every  thought  into  subjection  to  the  will  of  the  High 
and  Holy  One.  Such  must  be  the  mark  we  strive  to 
reach ;  such  must  be  the  character  after  which  we 
most  earnestly  aspire.  In  thus  aiming  we  may  often 
fall  short  of  our  object,  and  often  be  subjected  to  the 
most  humiliating  defeats  and  saddening  disappoint- 
ments ;  but  the  measure  of  oue  success  is  not  the 
question  upon  trial  at  the  bar  of  God,  but  rather,  if 
we  have  sincerely  intended  and  constantly  striven  to 
obey.  Perfect  and  undeviating  obedience  to  God's 
perfect  law  may  be  beyond  the  power  of  frail  and 
fallen  man.  We  may  at  times  be  overpowered  by 
temptation,  or  betrayed  by  unsuspected  infirmity, 
and  all  this  may  be  forgiven.  But  if  we  do  not  begin 
by  resolving,  through  the  grace  of  God,  that  we  will 
wilfully  offend  in  no  one  point,  but  that  we  will 
strive  and  aspire  to  conform  ourselves  to  the  divine 
will  in  ALL  THnjGS — then,  my  brethren,  I  am  con- 


Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motives.     193 

strained  to  say,  that  we  are  deficient  in  the  most 
essential  and  vital  principle  of  Christianity.  We 
want  the  spirit  which  the  Apostle  so  clearly  and  de- 
cidedly requires  in  the  text ;  the  %^\Y\i  which  would 
lead  us  in  whatsoever  we  did — whether  in  word  or 
in  deed — to  "  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 
"We  are  guilty,  my  brethren,  before  God,  not  because 
we  fall  short  of  our  desires  to  be  good  and  perfect, 
but  ratlier  because  we  never  desire  to  be  as  good  as 
we  MIGHT  BE.  We  do  not  really  intend  to  be  as  per- 
fect as  the  Spirit  of  God  is  ready  to  help  us  to  be ; 
nor  do  we,  in  sincerity  and  in  truth,  wish  to 
obey  our  Heavenly  Father  in  all  the  actions  of  our 
lives.  We  are  all  ready  enough  to  condemn  the 
profane  scofier,  who  in  profligate  courses  shows  that 
he  disregards  the  control  of  Heaven's  law ;  but  the 
plain  question  here  presents  itself,  is  there  not  in  all 
reason  precisely  the  same  ground  for  condemning 
every  man  who,  in  his  general  course  of  life,  persists 
in  an  habitual  disobedience  to  the  simple  and  plainest 
precepts  of  the  Gospel  of  his  God,  and  thus  evinces 
a  determined  disregard  for  the  authority  of  his 
Redeemer  and  his  Judge  ?  Tell  me  why  it  is  that 
every  man  will  not  be  subject  to  condemnation,  who 
employs  his  time,  his  intellectual  gifts,  his  wealth, 
his  power,  and  all  of  his  privileges  only  according  to 
his  own  sinful  whims,  and  in  obedience  and  submis- 
sion to  the  corrupt  fashions  of  the  world,  and  without 
one  thought,  without  one  moment's  regard  for  the 
will  or  the  requirements  of  the  God  who  alone  has 
thus  given  him  richly  all  things  to  enjoy?     No,  no, 

9 


1 04     Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motives. 

my  beloved  brethren,  there  is  no  safety — believe  me, 
there  is  no  safety  for  any  man  who  does  not  in  every 
part  of  his  life  endeavor  at  least  to  do  rightly,  as 
God  has  decided  what  eight  is  ;  who  does  not  intend, 
at  least  so  far  as  in  him  lies,  to  submit  in  all  things 
to  the  Divine  will ;  to  obey  the  precepts  and  to 
imitate  the  example  of  his  Redeemer  and  his  God  ! 
This  alone  is  Christian  consistency;  this  alone  is 
Christian  smcEKriY.  Now  the  only  test  of  sincerity 
is  consistency.  No  man  can  be  relied  upon  for  per- 
severance and  uniformity  in  virtue,  whose  principles 
of  action  are  not  sound  and  controlling;  and  no  man's 
principles  can  be  uniformly  controlling,  unless  they 
be  founded  on  the  fear  and  the  love  of  God.  There 
is  no  adequate  rule  for  the  government  of  human 
life  in  all  circumstances  of  prosperity  and  adversity, 
of  secrecy  and  in  the  public  way  alike,  which  is  not 
founded  in  a  religious  reverence  for  the  will  and  the 
power  of  the  ever-present  God.  Religion,  my 
brethren,  is  the  only  true  foundation  for  morals. 
I  speak  not  now  in  reference  to  some  men,  and  at 
SOME  TIMES,  but  with  respect  to  all  men,  and  at  all 
TIMES !  I  am  not  saying  but  that,  in  a  refined 
condition  of  society,  the  generality  of  men  may 
conform  to  the  decent  usages  of  society,  without 
much  sense  of  religion  in  the  matter ;  but  I  do  say 
that,  with  the  great  mass  of  mankind,  religions  fear 
and  religious  reverence  are  absolutely  indispensable 
to  the  security  of  peace  and  purity,  and  to  the 
formation  of  the  more  elevated  virtues  of  the  human 
character. 


Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motives.     195 

Expediency  may,  I  grant  you,  be  a  tolerably 
safe  rule  for  a  tolerably  good  man  to  go  by.  But 
I  am  not  speaking  of  a  man  who  in  general  or  in 
certain  particulars  is  a  good  man,  but  rather  of  one 
who  is  thoroughly  sound  in  principle, — one  who  is 
able  to  sustain  his  purity  and  his  integrity  unstained 
equally  at  home  and  abroad,  in  secret  and  in  public, 
in  the  solitude  of  the  desert,  and  before  an  assembled 
universe.  Now  I  say  you  must  not  expect  to  find 
any  such  man,  unless  it  be  one  who  is  influenced  by 
a  steady  regard  to  the  will  of  God,  and  the  retribu- 
tions of  eternity ;  who  remembers  that  God  hears 
him  always,  and  that  his  word  as  well  as  his  oath  is 
registered  in  heaven  ;  that  his  actions  are  all  under 
the  eye  of  Omniscience,  and  if  he  will  only  fear 
Him  who  reads  the  inmost  thoughts,  he  surely  need 
not  fear  the  keenest  inquisitions  of  his  fellow-men. 
No,  my  brethren,  there  are  no  motives  of  action 
which  this  world  can  produce  and  sustain,  capable 
of  yielding  the  true  fruits  of  those  nobler  sentiments 
which  elevate  us  above  the  low  calculations  of  mere 
worldly  advantage  ;  nothing  of  that  integrity  which 
can  neither  be  seduced  nor  intimidated ;  nothing  of 
that  fortitude  which  will  stand  firm  in  a  good  cause 
under  the  assaults  of  ridicule  and  through  every 
species  of  sufiering ;  nothing  of  that  true  elevation 
of  feeling  which  leads  us  to  look  down  with  pity  or 
with  contempt  upon  even  the  triumphs  of  him  who 
elevates  himself  by  wrongdoing,  while  we  regard 
with  sympathy  and  approbation  the  very  worldly 
disgrace  of  another  whose  ennobling  principles  have 


196     Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motives. 

led  him  to  believe  that  all  the  sufferings  which  the 
whole  world  can  bring  upon  him  are  as  nothing,  so 
long  as  the  torture  of  self-reproach  are  not  among  his 
sorrows.  But  not  only  is  it  utterly  hopeless  and  in 
vain  to  look  for  the  glorious  fruits  of  this  sublime 
degree  of  virtue  in  the  life  of  him  who  is  actuated 
by  no  higher  motive  than  this  world's  expediency  or 
interest ;  I  will  go  further,  and  say  that  such  motives 
are  utterly  inefficient  in  securing  the  world  from  the 
worst  forms  of  vice.  And  to  prove  this,  I  beg  you 
to  consider  that  the  calm  flow  of  the  tide  in  this 
world's  ordinary  affairs,  where  everything  is  tranquil 
and  prosperous,  affords  us  no  test  of  the  stability  and 
worth  of  any  man's  principles. 

The  ship  that  rides  safely  upon  the  bosom  of  the 
unruffled  sea  may  prove  utterly  weak  and  worthless 
amid  the  fury  of  the  raging  storm.  And  the  house 
which  rests  securely  upon  the  sand  when  no  waters 
rise  and  swell,  may  prove  but  a  false  and  treacherous 
home  when  the  clouds  gather  over  it,  the  tempest 
bursts  upon  it,  the  winds  of  Heaven  exert  their 
awful  power,  and  the  waves  of  the  fathomless  gulf 
yawn  and  swell  to  swallow  it  up  forever. 

So,  too,  the  times  to  try  men's  principles  are  not 
those  times  when  the  passions  are  all  at  rest  and  no 
temptation  is  nigh;  but  it  is  rather  when  everything 
is  in  a  state  of  excitement,  and  perhaps  every  in- 
terest is  in  jeopardy;  when  purity,  honesty,  and 
virtue  can  only  be  sustained  by  letting  go  present 
advantages.  Aye,  my  brethren,  it  is  in  these  mo- 
ments, when  the  breast  is  agitated  by  anxiety,  when 


Christian  Principles  the  Ruling  Motives.     197 

desire  is  inflamed,  and  passion  is  raging,  when  no 
eye  can  see  you,  and  no  tongue  can  tell  of  your 
doings  ;  these,  aye  these  are  the  times  to  test  the 
sincerity  and  the  strength  of  the  principles  by  which 
you  are  actuated  in  the  sight  of  that  God  who  reads 
the  heart. 

Consider  then,  my  brethren,  that  he  who  does 
everj'thing  "  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  that 
is,  one  who  is  steadily  influenced  by  a  sense  of  his 
responsibility  at  the  bar  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
while  he  has  every  motive  to  goodness  that  can  act 
on  the  mere  man  of  this  world,  has  at  the  same 
time  others  also  of  a  far  weightier  character,  because 
he  is  influenced  by  a  controlling  belief  that  the  con- 
sequences of  his  actions  extend  beyond  the  present 
world.  The  attractions  to  sin  lose  their  power,  and 
the  motives  to  virtue  are  unspeakably  dilated  while 
he  remembers  that  although  he  should  seclude  him- 
self by  bolts  and  bars,  and  walls  of  stone — though  he 
should  seek  to  ascend  up  into  heaven,  or  to  make  his 
bed  in  hell,  yet  it  would  be  impossible  to  escape 
from  the  all-searching  eye  of  Him  who  can  make  the 
darkness  of  night  to  be  light  around  him. 


SPRING  AN  EMBLEM  OF  THE  RESURRECTION. 


"  For  lo  !  the  winter  is  past,  the  rain  is  over  and  gone;  the  flowers 
appear  on  the  earth,  the  time  of  the  singing  of  birds  is  come. 

Song  of  Solomon  2d,  11th. 

|N  a  rich  and  beautiful  description  of  the 
Springtime  of  the  year,  the  wise  man  has 
reference  to  the  religion  of  the  Messiah. 
The  season  which  preceded  the  coming 
of  our  Lord  was  the  moral  winter  of  the  world — 
a  season  of  spiritual  darkness  and  torpor — and  in  the 
enlivening,  refreshing,  and  renovating  influence  of 
Spring,  we  have  a  just  and  striking  emblem  of  the 
new  light,  animation,  and  happiness  which  was  im- 
parted to  the  world  bj  the  coming  of  the  Son  of 
God.  It  is  in  this  view  that  the  Gospel  is  so  con- 
stantly, so  fondly,  and  so  poetically  pictured  by  the 
inspired  writers.  It  is  the  sun  of  righteousness  and 
truth,  rising  upon  them  that  sat  in  darkness.  It  is 
the  morning  light,  spreading  upon  the  mountains. 
It  is  the  day-spring  from  on  high  that  hath  visited 
and  cheered  us.  The  desert  has  been  made  glad  by 
it,  and  the  barren  and  desolate  wilderness  of  life  has 
blossomed  as  the  rose. 


Spring  an  Emblem  of  the  Resurrection.     199 

My  brethren,  what  an  exciting  and  joyous  season 
is  the  present !  It  was  but  a  short  time  since,  that 
dreariness  and  death  seemed  to  be  brooding 
over  the  face  of  nature,  and  the  breath  of  God  was 
exerted  only  to  chill  and  to  destroy.  But  now,  every 
element  seems  to  be  full  of  the  principle  of  life. 
"  Every  breeze  that  blows  calls  up  some  new  species 
of  existence  from  the  dark  womb  of  nature,  and 
every  returning  sun  seems  to  glory  with  increasing 
splendor  over  the  progressive  beauty  which  his  rays 
have  awakened."  The  vegetable  world  is  hourly 
bursting  into  life ;  "  waving  its  gorgeous  hues,  and 
spreading  its  fragrance  round  the  habitations  of  men. 
The  animal  world  is  marked  by  still  deeper  charac- 
ters of  life  and  happiness.  Myriads  of  seen,  and  still 
greater  myriads  of  unseen  beings,  are  everywhere 
enjoying  their  new-born  existence,  and  hailing  with 
inarticulate  voice  the  Power  that  gave  them  being." 

My  brethren,  in  this  annual  renovation  of  the  earth 
man  himself  is  renewed.  The  bright  thoughts,  and 
stirring  feelings  of  his  youth,  are  revived ;  his  once 
ardent  dreams  of  hope  and  visions  of  long-forgotten 
joy,  reanimate  his  heart ;  the  fountains  of  sensibil- 
ity are  unlocked  ;  and  as  his  softened  affections  ex- 
pand to  take  in  this  wondrous  circle  of  glory  and  joy, 
he  is  readily  led  to  cherish  with  deep  and  adoring 
gratitude  the  recollection  of  the  great  Parent  of  ex- 
istence, who  has  thus  given  him  richly  all  things 
to  enjoy.  Oh !  who  is  there  that  can  look  forth 
upon  the  green  earth,  exulting  in  the  glorious  livery 
of  Heaven,  everywhere  dispensing  its  flowery  per- 


200    Spring  an  Emblem  of  the  Resurrection. 

fume  ;  the  painted  insects  revelling  in  their  sweets  ; 
the  free  birds  carolling  their  songs  of  gladness,  while 
they  fan  with  their  wings  the  fragrant  air;  and 
then  considers  that  all  this  system  of  beauty,  order, 
and  harmonious  design  was  contrived  for  the  happi- 
ness of  man ;  that  it  is  placed  gratuitously  within 
his  reach,  and  in  its  sounds  of  melody,  and  its  beau- 
tiful forms  and  radiant  colors,  everywhere  allures 
his  pursuit  and  gladdens  his  enjoyment !  Oh  !  who 
is  there,  that  in  calm  and  peaceful  contemplation, 
can  consider  this,  without  turning  with  disgust  and 
sickness  of  heart  from  the  scenes  of  selfish  rapacity, 
pollution,  and  crime,  which  deaden  the  heart  to  feel- 
ings of  grateful  piety,  and  darken  the  clear  eye  of 
reason  to  such  deeply-written  evidences  of  mercy 
and  exhaustless  goodness.  Indeed,  my  brethren,  I 
believe  that  something  at  least  of  the  grateful  en- 
thusiasm inspired  by  the  return  of  spring  is  univer- 
sally experienced.  Poets  have  everywhere  labored 
to  illustrate  it,  and  preachers  of  righteousness  have 
anxiously  seized  upon  it,  to  enforce  their  lessons  of 
eternal  worth  ;  "  nor  has  the  most  luxuriant  imagi- 
nation," says  a  great  moralist,  "  been  able  to  describe 
the  serenity  of  the  golden  age  otherwise  than  by 
giving  a  ])erj)etual  spring  as  the  highest  reward  of 
uncorrupted  innocence." 

Living,  my  brethren,  as  we  do,  amid  the  scenes 
of  artificial  life,  and  in  the  crowded  haunts  of  selfish 
and  jostling  men ;  our  sensibilities  when  once  enlisted, 
are,  perhaps  from  the  very  circumstance  of  our  con- 
fined existence,  more  keenly  alive  to  the  emotion 


Spring  an  Emblem  of  the  Resurrection.     201 

which  this  animating  season  is  calculated  to  excite. 
It  would,  indeed,  be  strange,  if  none  of  these  emotions 
were  acknowledged  by  us.  It  would,  indeed,  be 
passing  strange,  if,  when  we  are  permitted  to  escape 
for  an  hour  from  these  worn  and  wearying  streets, 
these  dark,  close,  and  dusty  lanes,  which  are  the 
work  of  men,  and  are  permitted  to  look  abroad 
upon  the  impressive  manifestations  of  the  Creator's 
wisdom,  power,  and  beneficence,  with  which  nature 
will  present  us— it  would,  indeed,  be  strange,  if  our 
hearts  were  not  lifted  up  in  feelings  of  awe  and  grate- 
ful piety  to  Him,  "whose  are  all  these  glorious 
works ; "  and  who,  as  He  wields  the  elements  of  nature 
at  His  will,  so  has  He  power  to  spread  over  our  future 
prospects  constant  smiles,  animation,  and  hope  ;  or 
else  to  cloud  it  with  darkness  and  desolating  storms. 
Yes,  my  friends,  while  the  fields  and  gardens  are 
richly  clothed  in  beauty,  while  the  sweet  and  balmy 
air  resounds  with  songs  of  gladness,  while  the  hosts  of 
animated  nature  are  rioting  in  their  fragrant  realm, 
prodigal  of  joy,  it  would  be  dark  and  deep  ingrati- 
tude if  our  thoughts  were  not  attuned  to  praise  and 
happiness.  And  just  in  proportion  to  the  extent  and 
elevation  of  our  capacity  for  happiness,  should  be 
our  relish  for  the  promise  and  glory  of  this  grateful 
season.  Naturally  and  cheeringly  should  our  views 
pass  on  from  this  annual  theatre  of  revivification  and 
joy,  and  be  directed  to  those  perennial  scenes  of 
health  and  blessedness,  which  spread  before  the  eye 
of  faith  in  the  immortal  home  of  man  !  You  must 
forgive  me,  my  brethren,  for  having  thus  directed 

9* 


202     Spring  an  Emhlem  of  the  Resurrection. 

your  minds  to  some  of  the  beautiful  and  impressive 
associations  which  the  return  of  spring  should  always 
awaken ;  and  you  must  bear  with  me,  too,  while  I 
go  on  to  point  out  the  analogies  by  which,  at  this 
season  of  renovated  being,  we  argue  the  high  proba- 
bility, and  sustain  the  reasonableness  of  the  Chris- 
tian's hope  of  renovated  being  for  himself.  Who 
can  compare  the  promises  of  the  Scriptures  with  the 
scenes  of  annual  revival  in  all  creation  from  the 
apparent  dreariness  of  death — such  a  revival  as  that 
which  will  at  this  time  meet  our  eye  on  all  sides — 
without  beinsi;  struck  witli  the  wonderful  analosries 
which  they  exhibit,  and  without  receiving  the 
strongest  conviction  that  their  Author  is  the  same  ? 
Who  can  compare  the  complete  and  glorious  resto- 
]-ation  which  this  season  gives  to  nature,  without 
cherishing  a  similar  hope  for  the  destiny  of  man — 
without  anticipating  the  time  when  the  winter  of 
death  shall  for  us,  too,  be  over,  and  the  dominion  of 
the  grave  destroyed; — when  eternity,  like  an  unfad- 
ing spring,  shall  awaken  the  righteous  to  the  joys 
of  immortal  day ;  where  age  shall  put  oif  its  infir- 
mities, and  be  renewed  to  the  vigor  of  iinfading 
youth ;  where  the  youth  shall  forget  their  bright 
visions  of  delight,  in  the  surpassing  realities  of  en- 
joyment ;  where  the  sorrowing  shall  cease  to  weep 
over  misfortune,  and  mourners  forget  the  cause  of 
their  anguish  ;  where  the  lost  shall  be  restored  to  the 
weeping,  the  wept  greeted  with  new  gladness,  and 
the  loved  reunited  forever  ? 

I  know,  my  brethren,  nor  would  I  teach  you  other- 


Spring  an  Emhlem  of  the  Resurrection.     203 

wise,  that  it  is  to  revelation  alone — confirmed  as  it 
is  in  its  teaching  by  the  rising  again  from  the  dead 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — it  is  revelation  alone 
which  can  inspire  a  trust  that  never  falters  in  the 
expectation  of  immortality.  It  is  revelation  alone 
which  can  enable  us  to  know;  to  feel  assured  of  that 
subhme  and  fearful  truth.  But  notwithstanding 
that,  I  still  delight  to  recur  to  the  confirmation 
which  our  faith  receives  from  the  beautiful  analogies 
of  nature.  And  we  all  know  that  our  Saviour  Him- 
self illustrated  His  teaching  by  a  reference  to  these 
very  phenomena.  "  Except,"  said  He,  "  a  grain  of 
wheat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die,  it  abideth  alone; 
but  if  it  die,  it  bringeth  forth  much  fruit."  And 
He^  my  brethren,  hath  died,  and  the  fruit  which  He 
will  bring  forth  for  the  mighty  harvest  are  all  of 
those  confiding  souls  who  meekly  strive  to  do  the 
things  which  He  commands.  So,  too,  is  it  that  the 
Apostle  Paul  replies  triumphantly  to  him  who 
thought  it  an  "  incredible  thing  that  God  should 
raise  the  dead. "  "  Thou  fool,  that  which  thou 
so  west  is  not  quickened  unless  it  die ! "  Who  can 
ever  behold  the  dry  and  lifeless  seed  committed  to 
the  earth,  and  then  reviving  out  of  apparent  cor- 
ruption and  death,  rising  daily  in  beauty,  and  seem- 
ing to  rejoice  in  its  strength,  expanding  and  waving 
its  broad  leaves  to  the  sun  of  heaven,  unfolding  its 
rich  and  glorious  blossoms,  and  spreading  its  perfume 
upon  the  air — oh  who  can  behold  it  without  being 
led  to  confide  in  the  truth  and  the  power  of  Him 
who  has  promised  us  that  although  this  frail  and 


204    Spring  an  Ernhlem  of  the  Resurrection. 

mortal  body  must  be  committed  to  the  earth — "  al- 
though it  must  be  sown  in  corruption,  yet  shall  it 
rise  in  incorruption  ;  although  it  be  sown  in  dis- 
honor, it  shall  rise  in  glory  ;  although  it  be  sown  in 
weakness,  it  shall  rise  in  power ! " 

Indeed,  everything  around  me  presses  upon  my 
thoughts  the  certainty  of  the  Christian's  hopes  ;  and 
I  am  animated  with  enlarged  perceptions  and  im- 
mortal aspirations.  All  nature  bears  the  traces  of 
Divine  working,  and  is  visibly  stamped  with  the 
most  beneficent  designs.  I  look  forward  upon  life, 
and  see  it  full  of  vast  responsibilities;  and  tending 
to  infinite  results.  I  look  forward  to  the  grave, 
and  see  it  the  gate  of  immoktality  !  I  think  of  the 
DEAD,  and  ask,  where  are  they?  And  a  voice  from 
heaven  whispers  sweetly  to  my  ear :  "  Already  ripe, 
and  gathered  by  the  Lord  of  the  Harvest  for  His 
own  eternal  purposes  ! " 

Indeed,  my  brethren,  we  are  at  this  season  sur- 
rounded by  everything  that  is  bright  and  joyous  in 
the  outward  creation ;  and  our  thoughts  should  be 
carried  forward  to  those  far  higher  scenes  where 
"  one  unbounded  spring  shall  encircle  all !  "  Can 
there  exist,  think  you,  one  human  being  who,  with 
the  explicit  teaching  of  revelation  in  his  hands,  and 
with  the  almost  demonstrative  analogies  of  nature 
before  him,  can  yet  suppose  that  the  Creator  has  en- 
dowed man  with  the  noble  faculties  which  distinguish 
him,  only  to  fit  him  for  this  low,  brief,  and  uncertain 
scene?  Who  looks  abroad  and  above  him,  upon  the 
horizon  that  bounds  his  view  of  earth,  and  then  upon 


Spi'ing  an  Emblem  of  the  Resurrection.     205 

the  trackless  canopy  of  the  skies,  and  will  tell  me 
that  these  are  all  he  can  either  know  or  care  for  ? 
That  this  dreary  region  of  woe,  where  the  groans  of 
anguish  resound,  and  the  tears  of  sorrow  flow  like  a 
stream,  and  over  which  Death  and  Despair  have 
stretched  their  iron  sceptre,  is  his  only  home  ?  Who 
mourns  for  his  dead,  as  one  without  hope  ;  and  looks 
forward  to  his  owni  grave  as  the  dark,  cold  pit  of  obli- 
vion ?  Oh !  if  there,  indeed,  lives  and  breathes  one 
such  man,  how  deeply  is  he  to  be  pitied!  How 
cheerless  and  dark  is  the  destiny  to  which  he  has 
been  born! 

My  brethren,  under  the  light  with  which  Christian 
truth  has  covered  the  nations,  I  do  not  believe  that 
this  persuasion  ever  completely  and  finally  prevails  ; 
although  I  do  believe  that,  under  the  depraving  in- 
fluence of  sinful  habits,  and  under  the  hopelessness 
with  which  they  feel  they  ought  to  view  everything 
connected  with  God  and  futurity,  there  may  be 
many  hearts  who  secretly  wish  there  may  be  no 
HEKEAFTEB.  Let  me  now  turn  to  those  of  you,  my 
brethren,  who  believe  that  there  is  another  life  than 
this ;  that  we  shall  sink  into  the  dust  only  to  rise 
again,  when  all  the  wintry  storms  of  time  shall  be 
over ;  who  believe  that  there  is  a  God,  and  that 
they  have  need  of  His  protection  and  favor,  but  yet 
have  none  of  the  intelligent  confidence  of  the  Chris- 
tian's faith  that  they  shall  hereafter  enter  joyously 
into  His  presence.  If  any  such  there  be  within  the 
reach  of  my  voice,  let  me  entreat  you  to  seize  upon 
the  present,  to  thinkdeeply  and  wisely  upon  your  con- 


206     Spring  an  Emhlem.  of  the  Resurrection. 

dition,  your  destiny,  your  danger,  and  your  duty  ! 
As  you  value  your  present  and  everlasting  peace; 
as  you  value  the  smiles  and  the  power  of  God  in 
seasons  of  sickness  and  calamity,  in  the  hour  of  death 
and  in  the  day  of  judgment, — listen  to  truth  as  we 
would  persuade  you  to  receive  it,  and  be  prompt 
and  earnest  in  devoting  yourselves  to  the  reason- 
able and  ennobling  service  of  your  God  ! 

Cannot  that  bright  and  glorious  sun,  which  shines 
so  broadly  upon  your  path,  enable  you  to  read  the 
capitals  in  which  your  immortal  destiny  is  written  ? 
Raise  yonr  eyes  to  yonder  skies,  and  cannot  you  see 
with  me  the  heaven-born  spirits  of  Truth,  Mercy, 
and  Justice,  arrayed  in  their  robes  of  uncreated 
light,  bending  towards  you  with  their  anxious  smiles, 
while  they  point  you  to  the  clear,  bright  path  of 
everlasting  safety  ? 

But  I  turn  to  the  young  of  this  my  own  house- 
hold of  faith.  To  those  of  you  I  turn  who  have 
known  the  Scriptures  from  your  childhood ;  who 
know  full  well  that  there  is  no  safety  but  in  Christ 
risen  from  the  dead  ;  that  the  harvest  of  eternity 
can  only  be  secured  by  the  repentance,  the  faith, 
the  daily  working  of  the  renewed  heart ;  and  that 
the  sustaining  and  renovating  influence  of  the  Spirit 
is  hourly  to  be  sought  for.  Ay,  it  is  to  you  I  turn, 
and  entreat  you  to  remember  that  this  is  the  spring- 
time of  your  life  ;  it  is  emphatically  and  precisely  the 
season  in  which  you  are  to  sow  and  to  toil,  if  ever 
you  hope  to  reap  in  heaven.  In  this  precious,  this 
golden  season,  when  the  mind  is  throwing  out  its 


Spring  an  Emblem  of  the  Resurrection.     207 

brilliant  creations,  and  clothing  futurity  with  its 
hues  of  enchantment ;  when  the  heart  is  gushing  out 
with  fulness  of  feeling,  and  its  pure  affections — 
oh !  this  is  the  season  when  God  is  calling  to  you 
with  a  father's  tenderness,  and  more  than  a  mother's 
love,  to  seek  Him  early  if  you  would  ever  find  Him: 
"  To  receive  His  instructions  and  not  silver ;  and 
his  knowledge  rather  than  fine  gold."  Your  Re- 
deemer is  now  clothed  in  smiles,  and  calls  you, 
in  a  voice  softer  and  sweeter  than  angels'  music, 
to  take  of  the  water  of  life  freely  !  Continue  not  to 
provoke  Him  with  cold  neglect,  until  the  seed-time 
be  over,  the  summer  ended — your  face  be  covered 
with  wintry  wrinkles,  and  your  head  with  the  hoary 
frosts  of  age  ;  when  for  you  the  harvest  shall  be  for- 
ever past,  and  no  fruit  be  found  for  eternity!  Let 
me  repeat,  then,  that  this,  my  young  friends,  is  indeed 
the  spring-time  of  your  being.  The  blossoms  of  im- 
mortal hope  are  springing  up  in  rich  luxuriance 
around  you.  Oh !  that  with  a  siren's  witchery — 
shall  I  say? — no,  no,  but  surely  and  simply  with 
the  touching  tones  of  sincerity  and  truth,  would  I 
persuade  you  to  come  with  me,  and  let  us  gather  the 
rosebuds  of  heaven  before  they  wither  !  Let  us  trans- 
plant them  to  our  own  humble  hearts,  and  strive  to 
nourish  them  there  from  the  chilling  blights  of  this 
wintry  world  ;  and  they  will  grow  and  unfold  in 
sweetness  and  unfading  beauty  for  life's  eternal  day ! 
It  now  only  remains  for  me  to  remind  you,  my 
young  friends,  that  in  the  changes  of  the  seasons  we 
have  a  faithful  and  touching  picture  of  the  changes 


208     Spring  an  Emhlem  of  the  Resurrection. 

to  which  we  all  are  subject.  Time  sweeps  surelj  on, 
and  has  already  overwhelmed  much  of  the  bright- 
ness and  beauty,  the  eloquence  and  taste,  the  toil 
and  the  power  of  the  past.  It  will  bring,  as  you  well 
know,  a  speedy  desolation  over  all  the  rich  verdure 
and  gaudj  hues  with  which  the  earth  is  now  covered. 
My  brethren,  it  will  as  surely  bring  dreariness  over 
all  your  most  cherished  scenes  of  joj. 

Spring,  with  its  genial  warmth,  will  soon  give  way 
to  the  parching  heat  of  summer ;  summer  will  yield 
to  the  feebleness  of  autumn ;  and  autumn  will 
quickly  be  followed  by  the  chilling  winds  of  winter. 
So  perish  the  roses  of  the  peasant,  and  the  flowers 
of  kings  ! 

"So  fades,  so  languishes,  grows  dim  and  dies, 
All  that  the  world  is  proud  of!  " 

Impressive  emblem  of  human  life ! 


THE    CHARACTER    AND    EMPLOYMENT    OF  THE 
ANGELS. 


^'■Neither  can  they  die  any  more,   for  they  are  equal  unto  the 

Angels." 

Luke  20th,  SQtfi. 

HESE  words  refer  to  the  souls  of  the  re- 
deemed at  the  resurrection  of  the  just. 
My  brethren,  while  death  is  steadily 
pursuing  his  desolating  triumphs  over  the 
generations  of  our  race ;  while  we  see  that  none  can 
escape  his  cruel  ravages ;  that  the  countless  millions 
of  nations  that  have  covered  the  earth  are  all  fallen 
into  dust ;  that  the  heroes  who  have  guided  the 
storm  of  battles,  and  the  monarchs  who  have  wielded 
the  sceptre  of  empires,  and  devoted  thousands  to 
death,  have  themselves  become  his  prey,  and  are  now 
lodged  in  silence,  their  dust  mingling  with  that  of 
their  slaves,  and  their  splendor  and  pageantry  all 
covered  by  the  clod  of  the  valley ;  when  we  see  the 
aged  forms,  before  which  we  have  bowed  in  reverence, 
and  the  little  infant,  smiling  in  innocence  and  help- 
lessness ;  when  we  see  the  strong  man  glorying  in 
his  strength,  and  the  gay  companions  of  our  days 
rejoicing  in  the  sprightliness  and  the  bloom  of  youth, 


210    Character  and  Employment  of  the  Angels. 

all  cut  down  and  falling  to  the  earth  like  the  morn- 
ing flowers  that  bow  their  heads  in  death, — ah !  ray 
friends,  how  overwhelming  would  be  the  conscious- 
ness of  these  sad  realities,  if  death  were  no  more  than 
one  dark  and  everlasting  sleep  of  the  grave.  But, 
with  the  clear  and  bright  prospect  of  immortal  life 
before  us,  with  the  strong  assurance  that  when  the 
soul  shakes  off  the  body  as  a  useless  shell,  and  leaves 
"this  earthly  load"  "of  death  called  life,  which  us 
from  life  doth  sever,"  that  we  shall  neither  know 
sickness  nor  death  an}^  more  forever,  but  shall  be  as 
the  angels,  having  perfection  for  our  portion,  and 
eternity  for  our  inheritance,  then,  my  brethren, 
though  deep  the  "  love  we  bear  unto  the  dead,"  yet 
we  cannot  mourn  for  them ;  they  want  neither  tears 
nor  lamentations ;  they  have  exchanged  the  fleeting 
span  of  time  for  the  bliss  of  angels :  and  when  the 
heavens  and  the  earth  shall  be  dissolved,  they  shall 
shine  forth  like  the  sun  in  the  kingdom  of  their 
Father. 

You  will  observe  that  it  is  said  of  the  souls  of 
the  faithful,  that  when  once  elevated,  as  the  sons  of 
God,  to  the  place  which  Jesus  has  gone  to  prepare 
for  them,  that  then  "  they  can  die  no  more,  but  are 
equal  unto  the  angels,"  Now,  the  question  naturally 
presents  itself — Who  and  what  are  the  angels  ? 

That  there  are  in  the  universe  of  God  orders  of 
intelligent  beings  separated  from  matter,  and  there- 
fore imperceptible  to  our  senses,  more  elevated  than 
man,  purer  in  their  aspirations,  more  sublime  in  their 
understanding,  and  bearing  a  nearer  aflinity  to  the 


Character  and  Employment  of  the  Angels.    211 

supreme  and  universal  mind ;  that  these  beings 
were  created  bj  God,  are  subject  to  God's  prov- 
idence, and  are  perpetually  engaged  by  Him  in  the 
government  of  the  world, — are  truths  clearly  revealed 
in  the  Scriptures,  and  are  entirely  consistent  with 
the  general  analogy  of  God's  works. 

The  course  of  reasoning,  by  which  such  an  order  of 
beings  is  rendered  highly  probable,  independent  of 
the  direct  light  of  revelation,  amounts  to  this:  We 
see,  wherever  the  works  of  God  extend,  that  various 
gradations  of  existences  mark  his  operations.  We 
begin  with  the  inert  and  unorganized  elements,  ascend 
to  the  exhibitions  of  vegetable  life  in  the  living  plant, 
pass  on  to  the  perceptive  brute,  and  thence  to  the 
reasoning  man — to  the  being  who  is  alone  capable 
of  investigating  the  hidden  properties  of  things  mate- 
rial, and  of  tracing  the  nature  and  destiny  of  what 
is  immaterial  and  divine.  Now,  having  thus  arrived 
at  something  immaterial,  something  endued  with 
such  powers  and  faculties  as  the  human  soul,  can  we 
suppose  that  the  scale  of  being  ends  there  ? 

Will  it  not  appear  reasonable  to  believe  that 
between  us  and  the  Deity  there  must  intervene 
beings  possessed  of  power  and  excellence  beyond  our 
present  experience  or  observation?  As  man,  by  his 
inferior  and  animal  nature,  is  evidently  connected 
with  the  brutes  below  him,  are  we  not  naturally  led 
to  suppose  that  in  his  intellectual  nature  he  must  be 
allied  to  the  spiritual  existence  above  him  ? 

If  the  earth  be  peopled  with  beings  capable  of 
knowing  and  rendering  glory  to  the  great  Creator, 


212    Character  and  Emjployment  of  the  Angels. 

can  we,  without  the  grossest  stupidity,  rest  in  the 
persuasion  that  anthems  of  praise  rise  only  from  our 
lips?  Can  we  believe  that  the  boundless  regions 
above  us,  that  spread  far  into  the  immensity  of  God, 
are  altogether  void  of  intelligences ;  and  that  no  hom- 
age is  ever  rendered  there  to  the  great  God  of  all  ? 

How  impressive  is  the  supposition  of  a  .state  of 
things  in  which  no  human  being,  no  mind,  should 
move  upon  the  earth  !  And  yet,  my  brethren,  it  would 
not  be  more  extraordinary  than  if  the  worlds  upon 
worlds  above  us  were  without  the  understanding  to 
be  impressed  with  the  wonder-working  power  of 
God! 

The  analogies  of  nature,  then,  would  lead  us  to 
conclude  that  the  immensity  of  God  is  filled  with 
intelligent  creatures,  who  as  they  are  further  removed 
from  the  impurities  in  which  we  are  immersed,  so 
are  they  more  refined  and  excellent  than  ourselves, 
and  far  exceed  us  in  their  capacities  of  knowing  and 
rendering  homage  to  the  Being  who  made  us  all! 

The  uNiv^ERSALrry  of  this  belief  is  also  a  strong; 
argument  in  favor  of  its  truth.  And  whether  we 
refer  the  origin  of  it  to  the  remains  of  primitive  rev- 
elation, or  to  the  instructive  teaching  of  nature,  it 
does  not  lessen  its  force.  Kothing  is  more  certain 
than  that,  however  they  may  differ  on  every  other 
subject  of  belief,  yet  that  nations  of  every  age,  who 
have  entertained  even  the  most  crude  notions  of  reli- 
gion, have  agreed  that  between  ourselves  and  the 
supreme  God  there  are  innumerable  orders  of  spirits. 

But  we  are  not  left  to  arguments  of  probability  or 


Character  and  EmployTnent  of  the  Angels.    213 

conjecture.  The  Holj  Scriptures  are  full  and  ex- 
plicit, not  merely  upon  the  fact  of  their  existence, 
but  also  with  regard  to  the  duties  with  which  they 
are  charged,  in  the  care  of  the  faithful  in  their  pro- 
gress towards  the  perfections  of  heaven. 

The  Apostle  Paul,  speaking  of  angels,  affirms  that 
they  are  all  "  ministering  spirits "  sent  forth  to 
minister  to  all  such  as  shall  be  the  "  heirs  of  salva- 
tion." In  the  historical  books  of  Scripture  they  are 
spoken  of  directly,  and  instances  are  oftentimes 
mentioned  of  their  direct  interference  in  human 
affairs.  The  whole  history  of  our  Lord  presents  a 
continued  series  of  angelic  manifestations. 

They  are  called  angels  or  messengers,  as  denoting 
the  employment  in  which  they  are  engaged  in  exe- 
cuting the  will  of  God.  They  are  called  "  cheru- 
bim," or  winged  creatures  of  wonderful  agility  and 
swiftness  of  motion.  They  are  called  "  sekaphim," 
or  BURNING  SPIRITS,  to  cxprcss  their  fervent  zeal  and 
love.  They  are  called  "  spirits,"  or  immortal  beings 
of  a  most  subtle  and  attenuated  substance.  They 
are  called  the  "  hosts  of  heaven,"  and  also  thrones, 
DOMINIONS,  principalities,  and  powers,  because  of 
their  high  dignity  and  elevation.  They  are  called 
"  morning  stars,"  from  the  splendor  of  their  nature, 
and  "  SONS  of  God,"  from  the  impress  which  they 
bear  of  His  perfections. 

With  regard  to  their  numbers,  the  Scriptures 
would  impress  us  with  their  uncounted  hosts.  Daniel 
saw  thousands  of  thousands  ministering  to  the  An- 
cient of  Days.    Our  Lord  speaks  of  summoning  more 


214    Cha/racter  and  Employment  of  the  Angels. 

than  "  twelve  legions  "  to  His  rescue.  St.  Paul,  who 
had  been  caught  up  to  the  third  heaven,  speaks  of 
an  "  innumerable  company,"  and  the  Apostle  John, 
when  wrapt  in  prophetic  vision,  saw  "  ten  thousand 
times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands !" 

The  POWER  with  which  these  sublime  intelligences 
are  endued,  although  it  be  strictly  limited,  is  yet  of 
prodigious  extent,  and  the  Scriptures  abound  with 
the  most  striking  examples  of  its  exertion.  They  are 
emphatically  called  the  "  mighty  angels  ; "  they  are 
said  to  "  excel  in  strength."  One  of  them  passsed 
through  the  land  of  Egypt  in  a  single  night,  and 
destroyed  all  the  "  lirst-born  "  of  the  land,  from  the 
first-born  of  Pharoah  on  the  throne,  to  the  first-born 
of  the  meanest  of  his  abject  people. 

Again,  what  an  overpowering  display  of  might 
was  there  in  the  sudden  deliverance  of  Israel  from 
their  malignant  enemies,  by  the  overthrow  of  the 
proud  army  of  Sennacherib — a  miraculous  slaugh- 
ter of  an  hundred  and  four  score  and  five  thousand 
men  in  one  night ! 

But  again,  these  angels  are  immortal  beings,  living 
forever,  without  the  fear  of  dissolution  or  decay. 
They  are  created  in  all  their  countless  numbers  by 
the  exertion  of  Almighty  power,  and  they  will  con- 
tinue to  endure  after  the  sun  and  moon  have  been 
blotted  from  the  heavens,  even  forever  and  ever.  It 
is  in  this  respect  that  the  children  of  faith  are  to 
be  "equal  unto  the  angels" — equal  in  duration. 
Having  been  subject  to  the  temporal  punishment 
of  death,  and  being  purified  by  the  blood  of  the  Re- 


Character  and  Emjployment  of  the  Angels.    215 

deemer,  and  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  they  will 
continue  to  rejoice  in  the  favor  and  the  service  of 
God  while  eternity  endures. 

Here  I  must  pray  you  to  remember  that,  while 
the  angels  are  the  most  excellent  of  created  things, 
still  they  are  but  creatures ;  and  surely  to  no  creatures 
can  we,  without  impiety,  offer  the  homage  of  our 
worship. 

The  angel  that  appeared  to  St.  John  in  the  Apo 
calypse  would  not  suffer  him  to  fall  down  before 
him,  for  the  very  reason  that  he  was  his   "  fellow- 
servant." 

And  again,  my  brethren,  I  must  pray  you  to  keep 
in  mind  that  the  Scriptures  most  distinctly  teach  us, 
that  the  providence  of  God  in  this  lower  world  is  in 
a  great  measure  carried  on  by  the  instrumentality  of 
angels.  He  who  produced  all  things  by  the  word 
of  His  power,  could,  no  doubt,  govern  all  things  with- 
out the  instrumentality  of  inferior  agents ;  but  it  is 
enough  for  us  to  know  that  this  is  not  His  ordinary 
mode  of  operating.  He  works  everywhere  with 
instruments,  and  it  must  be  for  reasons  full  of  wisdom 
and  goodness  that  He  employs  the  ministry  of  angels 
to  accomplish  the  designs  of  His  providence. 

It  is  indeed  a  beautiful  idea,  that  the  harmony  of 
the  universe  is  sustained  by  thus  connecting  together 
in  the  tenderest  bonds  of  mutual  service,  superior 
and  inferior  creatures,  things  visible  and  invisible. 
It  is  thus  that  the  ties  are  endearingly  cemented, 
which  will  forever  unite  angels  and  believing  men 
with  Christ,  the  Head  of  all  splendid  hosts. 


216     Character  and  Employment  of  the  Angels. 

My  brethren,  how  will  it  fill  us  with  grateful 
wonder  to  look  back  from  the  regions  of  the  blessed, 
and  see  how  early  and  how  continually  this  celestial 
vigilance  has  been  exerted  on  our  behalf.  From  our 
tenderest  years,  through  the  vicissitudes  of  life,  even 
to  the  dreariness  of  old  age,  have  those  sleepless  eyes 
been  upon  us.  In  the  vigor  of  health  and  in  the 
languor  of  disease ;  in  the  gloom  of  affliction  and 
in  the  sunshine  of  prosperity ;  amid  the  tears  of 
sorrow  and  the  smiles  of  joy ;  in  the  helplessness 
of  sleep,  and  when  we  awake  refreshed  by  sleep — 
equally  in  all  times  and  in  all  places  have  the  direct- 
ing angels  of  God  had  their  charge  over  us,  and 
never  for  one  moment  will  their  vigilance  be  relaxed 
until  we  reach  the  Paradise  of  the  blessed. 

More  especially  are  we  to  cherish  the  persuasion, 
that  the  care  and  vigilance  of  holy  angels  are  steadily 
directed  towards  us,  to  sustain  us  against  the  mis- 
chievous designs  of  the  powers  of  darkness.  For  of 
the  existence  of  wicked  angels  we  can  no  more  doubt 
than  of  the  existence  of  holy  angels.  We  see  that 
there  are  wicked  men  around  us,  and  why  should 
there  not  be  wicked  spirits  above  us  ?  If  evil  exists 
here,  so  too  have  we  reason  to  believe  that  it  exists 
in  some  shape  everywhere.  The  Scriptures  in  their 
teachings  proceed  constantly  on  the  presumption 
that  the  existence  of  evil  spirits  is  universally 
known.  Our  Lord  would  never  have  worked  miracles 
to  confirm  a  delusion,  and  to  the  reality  of  their 
existence  His  miracles  had  constantly  reference. 
But  as  Satan  and  his  fiends  perpetually  compass  the 


Character  and  Employment  of  the  Angels.    217 

earth,  seeking  whom  they  may  devour,  and  are  for- 
ever weaving  the  snares  of  temptation  for  the  right- 
eous ;  so  the  angels  of  God  are  ready  to  resist  their 
assaults,  by  extending  aid  to  the  feeble  whose  humil- 
ity may  merit  it.  My  brethren,  they  are  with  us  in 
every  peril  and  every  conflict.  They  rejoice  at  the 
first  sigh  of  repentance ;  and  they  eagerly  sustain  us 
in  every  step  towards  perfection,  until  the  last  struggle 
is  over  with  the  "  King  of  Terrors,"  and  then  they 
mingle  the  song  of  triumph  with  the  wailings  of 
human  afiection,  while  tliey  receive  the  disembodied 
spirit,  and  bear  it  exultingly  to  the  home  of  the 
blessed. 

My  brethren,  how  consoling,  how  exciting,  how 
salutary  are  reflections  like  these.  How  inexpressibly 
animating  are  the  glorious  models  of  moral  beauty, 
thus  brought  before  us.  How  rich  are  the  examples 
of  prompt  and  willing  obedience,  by  which  we  too 
are  inspired  to  do  the  will  of  Grod  "  as  it  is  done  in 
heaven !  " 

How  awful  is  the  reflection  that,  even  in  the  dark- 
est hours  and  most  sacred  retirements,  that  we  are 
acting  in  the  presence  and  under  the  inspection  of 
the  angels  of  light.  Especially  are  they  present  with 
us  when  we  are  engaged  in  the  worship  of  God.  It 
is  their  own  peculiar  and  most  delightful  duty,  and 
they  are  especially  anxious  to  bear  up  stainless  ofier- 
ings  from  sincere  and  humble  hearts.  Let  it  then 
control  your  wandering  thoughts  in  every  approach 
to  your  Maker,  while  you  remember  not  only  the 
greatness  and  majesty  of  the  Being  you  adore,  but 
10 


218    Character  and  Employment  of  the  Angels. 

also  the  dignity,  the  purity,  and  fervent  feelings  of 
the  celestial  companions  who  surround  us,  and  who 
w^ould  animate  us  with  their  own  zeal  and  fill  us 
with  their  own  undying  joy  ! 

My  brethren,  it  is  only  because  we  more  readily 
retain  the  remembrance  of  injuries  than  cherish  a 
sense  of  mercies,  and  are  more  willing  to  escape  from 
the  responsibility  of  our  sins  than  to  account  for  the 
means  of  grace  and  help  that  we  have  abused,  that 
Christians  are  much  more  prompt  to  complain  of  the 
malice  and  temptations  of  Satan  than  to  be  grateful 
for  the  unwavering  friendship  of  the  Angels  of 
Merc3^  My  brethren,  if  it  be  so,  that  God  com- 
mands and  commissions  His  own  glorious  retinue, 
the  brightest  and  best  of  the  orders  in  creation,  to 
serve  as  guides  and  comforters  to  us,  shall  no  grati- 
tude swell  our  hearts,  and  no  feelings  of  thankfulness 
burst  from  our  lips  ?  "  Oh,  that  men  would  there- 
fore praise  the  Lord  for  His  goodness,  and  declare  the 
wonders  that  He  doeth  for  the  children  of  men ! " 
"  Therefore  with  angels  and  archangels,  and  with  all 
the  company  of  Heaven,  we  laud  and  magnify  Thy 
glorious  name,  evermore  praising  Thee,  and  saying : 
Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  of  hosts,  heaven  and 
earth  are  full  of  Thy  glory  :  Glory  be  to  Thee,  O  Lord 
most  high ! " 

Such,  my  brethren,  are  the  nature,  the  names,  the 
employments,  and  the  sources  of  happiness  of  those 
exalted  beings,  whom,  through  the  strength  of  Jesus, 
we  hope  to  equal  in  duration,  and  to  resemble  in  char- 
acter !     Who  is  there  of  us,  my  brethren,  with  this 


Character  and  Employment  of  the  Angels.    219 

rapturous  prospect  before  him,  would  jet  desire  to 
protract  his  stay  amid  these  bewildering  scenes  of 
excitement  and  sufi'ering  for  one  moment  longer  than 
God  is  pleased  to  continue  him  in  his  stewardship? 
"  If  I  live  in  the  flesh  let  me  strive  to  show  the  fruit 
of  my  labor,"  but  to  "  depart  and  be  with  Christ  is 
far  better !  "  Ah !  who  is  there,  as  he  wanders  on 
through  scenes  over  which  sin  has  spread  its  blight 
and  its  desolation,  and  while  he  mourns  over  the 
destroyers  of  their  own  souls,  and  is  hourly  required 
to  struggle  with  increased  earnestness  against  the 
enemies  of  his  own  salvation,  from  within  and  from 
without,  until  faint  and  weary  from  the  conflict,  until 
bowed  and  almost  broken  with  the  sorrows  and  trials 
which  he  is  made  to  feel  from  the  strife,  the  hatred, 
the  falsehood,  the  malice,  and  uncharitableness  of 
men,  and  from  the  subtle  temptations  of  Satan — Ah ! 
who  is  there  that  will  not  lift  his  voice  in  meek 
prayer  with  the  Psalmist:  "Oh!  that  I  had  the 
wings  of  a  dove,  for  then  would  I  flee  away  and  be 
at  rest "  ?  Oh  !  the  joy  of  believing  that  this  troubled 
scene  is  not  my  abiding-place ;  that  I  look  for  other 
and  brighter  scenes  than  these,  scenes  in  which  all 
capacities  for  pure,  peaceful,  and  heavenly  joys  shall 
be  fllled  and  satisfied;  where  the  toils  and  pains 
which  now  oppress  me  shall  be  known  no  more. 

My  brethren,  we  have  here  no  "  continuing 
city,"  but  we  seek  one  to  come.  And  who  would 
have  it  otherwise  ?  who  would  choose  the  world  for 
his  PORTION  rather  than  for  his  passage  ;  for  his 
PLACE  OF  KEST  rather  than  for  his  scene  of  trial  ? 


220    Character  and  Errvployment  of  the  Angels. 

"Who  would  live  alway  amid  this  abounding  iniqui- 
ty and  general  forgetfulness  of  God — where  men's 
hearts  are  insensible  to  holiness,  truth,  and  celestial 
joy,  and  where  God's  pleasure  is  known  only  to  be 
despised  %  Where  happiness  is  permitted  to  be 
sought,  only  to  satisty  us  it  is  nowhere  to  be  found  ! 
That  although  it  may  glitter  in  a  thousand  propects, 
yet  when  pursued,  it  will  retire  before  us,  or  termi- 
nate in  vanity  !  That  although  it  may  seem  to  rest 
upon  riches,  or  to  hover  over  the  haunts  of  pleasure, 
or  to  move  in  the  paths  of  fame,  yet  have  you 
reaped  nothing  in  the  pursuit  but  anxiety  and  dis- 
appointment. You  have  perhaps  grasped  the  ob- 
ject of  your  fretful  toil  in  every  avenue  in  which  you 
have  pursued  it,  but  it  lies  in  your  hand  like  flow- 
ers that  are  withered  and  dead,  and  you  are  ready 
to  throw  them  to  the  ground  from  which  they  sprung, 
with  their  gay  colors  and  bitter  fruits  !  But  come 
now  with  me,  and  I  will  carry  you  upon  the  wings 
of  faith  to  the  regions  of  celestial  joy,  and  I  will 
point  you  to  the  spirits  of  martyrs  who  have  risen 
from  their  beds  of  flame,  and  to  the  sainted  spirits 
of  meek,  retiring  piety,  who  have  risen  from  their 
beds  of  wasting  disease — I  will  point  you  to  the 
angelic  hosts  who,  with  rejoicing  songs  of  surpassing 
melody  and  sweetness,  are  continually  bearing  up 
the  souls  of  thousands  who  have  "  washed  their  robes 
and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb  !  " 
Ko  moment  passes  but  some  one  is  seen  to  enter. 
Blessed  spirits !  how  glorious  is  the  light  which 
irradiates  their  course,  as  they  contend  upwards  with 


Character  and  Em(ploym.ent  of  the  Angels.    221 

joyful  wings,  until  they  join  the  circle  of  "  blessed 
voices  uttering  joy  !  "  Yea,  the  circle  of  redeemed 
souls,  united  in  glory,  to  go  no  more  out,  but  to 
dwell  forever  with  each  other,  and  forever  with  the 
Lord  ! 

Beholding  these  things,  my  brethren,  what  spirit 
shall  be  left  in  us  ?  Shall  we  not  be  swallowed  up 
with  one  thought  and  desire,  that  we  too  may  enter 
into  that  blessed  inheritance  of  glory  ?  With  this 
glimpse  of  the  splendors  of  the  beatific  region 
through  the  open  door  of  Heaven,  how  shall  we 
be  able  with  sufficient  earnestness  of  feeling,  with 
sufficient  fervency  of  utterance,  to  pour  forth  our 
heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God,  that  we  too  may 
be  saved  % 

My  brethren,  with  this  glorious  vision  before  us, 
who  would  for  one  moment  think  of  calline;  back, 
if  he  could,  the  departed  spirits  of  our  love  %  They 
have  gone,  indeed,  from  amongst  us.  They  shall 
cheer  us  with  kind  looks  and  sweet  words  no 
more,  but  we  can  still  see  them  clothed  with  smiles, 
which  pain  can  never  cloud !  They  shall  never 
again  kneel  with  us  here,  around  the  altar  of  a 
Saviour's  love,  but  we  can  see  them  theee,  even 
at  the  very  side  of  Him  who  has  redeemed  them  by 
His  blood  !  They  shall  no  more  sport  with  u's  in 
the  bright  beams  of  the  summer's  sun,  but  they  have 
gone  to  "  the  city  which  hath  no  need  of  the  sun, 
neither  of  the  moon  to  shine  in  it,  for  the  glory  of 
God  doth  lighten  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light 
thereof!  " 


222    Character  and  Employment  of  the  Angels. 

No  more  shall  tliey  mingle  with  us  the  tears  of 
sympathy  in  the  hours  of  bereavement ;  but  they 
are  in  a  land  where  deaths  are  unknown,  where 
there  are  no  graves,  no  mouldering  urns,  nor  touch- 
ing epitaphs. 

"  Blessed  indeed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the 
Lord  !  "     "  Even  so  saith  the  Spirit !  " 

My  friends,  I  stop  not  to  inquire  into  the  destiny 
of  the  unrepenting,  unfaithful,  unpardoned,  and 
unjustified  spirits.  It  is  enough  that  I  suggest  the 
THOUGHT.  It  is  enough  that  we  know,  if  any  perish, 
if  any  are  driven  away  into  the  dismal  shades  of 
woe,  upon  their  own  heads  and  upon  their  own 
hearts  be  the  blame.  It  is  their  own  obstinate  per- 
versity and  hatred  of  holiness  that  have  rendered 
their  fate  unavoidable.  It  is  not  but  that  every 
means  have  been  tried  that  infinite  compassion  and 
infinite  wisdom  could  contrive  for  their  safety.  It 
is  not  but  that  God  has  given  a  proof  of  His  desire 
for  their  salvation  which  amazes  the  angels  them- 
selves. Think  of  the  tears  and  blood  which  have 
been  shed  on  their  account.  Think  of  all  the  ago- 
nies— bitter,  insupportable  agonies — that  have  been 
endured  for  their  redemption  !  Oh  !  think  of  the  gift 
of  the  Son  of  God,  for  them  and  their  salvation  ! 

My  brethren,  with  the  close  view  of  death  and 
eternity  before  us,  let  us  listen,  I  conjure  you,  to 
the  offers  of  mercy  which  are  held  out  to  the  guilty; 
let  us  listen  to  the  offers  of  divine  aid,  freely  made 
to  all  who  need  it ;  let  us  listen  to  the  voice  of  God's 
word,   and  to  the   warning  of    God's    providence 


Character  and  Employment  of  the  Angels.   223 

which  are  hourly  repeated  before  us  !  My  brethren, 
let  us  flee  for  safety  to  the  refuge  which  God's  mercy 
has  provided;  let  us  consent  to  lay  hold  on  the  hope 
set  before  us  in  the  Gospel !  Let  us  not  bring  de- 
struction upon  ourselves  ;  but  rather  let  us  flee  from 
the  wrath,  prepared  not  for  man,  but  rather  for  the 
devil  and  his  angels. 


TEE  INTERMEDIATE  STATE. 


This  day  shalt  thou  he  with  me  in  Paradise.'''' 

St.  Luke  23rf,  4&d. 

IHESE  words  of  the  afflicted  and  careworn 
Soldier  of  the  Cross  have  often  been  re- 
echoed by  weary  pilgrims  of  time,  and 
amid  the  ravages  of  death  establish  con- 
clusively the  continued  existence  of  the  soul.  With 
the  advocates  of  the  blighting  doctrine  of  absolute 
materialism  we  have  nothing  to  do.  With  the  men 
(if  any  such  there  be)  who  can  contend  that  man  is 
no  more  than  we  see  him,  and  that  death  is  the  ter- 
mination of  existence,  this  is  not  the  place  to  reason. 
But  among  the  professors  of  the  Christian  faith 
there  have  been  persons,  and  some  of  them  of  high 
distinction,  who,  while  they  have  contended  strongly 
for  the  doctrine  of  human  accountability,  have  yet 
held  to  the  gloomy  notion  that  death  was  the  sus- 
pension of  consciousness  until  the  period  of  the 
resurrection.  The  leading  principle  in  this  philoso- 
phy is  "that  man  is  simply  a  material  being,  and 
that  what  is  called  mind  is  merely  the  result  of 
animal  organization  ;  that  there  is  no  foundation  in 


The  Intermediate  State.  225 

nature  for  the  usual  distinction  between  soul  and 
body  ;  that  mind,  or  the  power  of  thought,  is  a  mere 
quality  of  the  brain — resides  in  it  as  its  proper  organ, 
and  by  it  exhibits  all  of  those  phenomena  that  are 
denominated  mental  ;  that  when  the  human  body  is 
completely  organized  and  combined,  and  all  of  the 
senses  operated  on  by  their  appropriate  objects, 
the  result  is  the  power  of  thinking — just  as  inusic 
proceeds  from  a  complete  instrument  when  struck 
by  a  skilful  hand."  Upon  tliis  scheme,  you  will 
perceive  that  mind  can  have  no  separate  existence  ; 
demolish  the  organization  of  the  body,  and  man 
ceases  to  be,  until  the  almighty  voice  of  God  shall 
reanimate  the  unconscious  dust,  at  the  hour  of  uni- 
versal resurrection  !  "  That  then,  the  body  being 
reorganized,  the  power  of  thought  will  reappear, 
consciousness  will  resume  its  empire,  and  the  man 
will  find  himself  the  same  person  that  he  was  before 
his  dissolution  !  " 

Now,  my  brethren,  although  this  teaching  may 
not  be  positively  hostile  to  human  virtue,  inasmuch 
as  it  does  not  pretend  to  interfere  with  the  doctrine 
of  a  minute  retribution  and  tlie  certainty  of  a  com- 
ing judgment,  yet  it  is  a  most  d]smal  persuasion, 
and  it  is  as  manifestly  repugnant  to  all  sound  philo- 
sophy as  it  is  to  the  language  of  Scripture.  It  is 
enough  that  I  say  here,  that  to  reject  the  distinction 
between  mind  and  matter  is  to  reject  the  distinc- 
tion between  cause  and  effect,  and  must  ultimately 
plunge  us  into  atheism.  If  there  can  be  no  mind 
apart  from  matter,  then  there  can  be  no  Supreme 
10* 


226  The  Intermediate  State. 

Mind— NO  God  !  A  greater  discrepancy  cannot  be 
conceived  to  exist  than  that  between  the  qualities 
of  mind  and  the  qualities  of  matter.  The  material 
universe  is  no  more  than  a  temporary  modification 
of  power,  and  power  is  a  quality  of  mind.  This 
world  is,  then,  no  more  than  an  outward  exhibition 
of  the  invisible  grandeur  and  majesty  of  the  spiritual 
God  ;  and  will  most  surely,  when  His  purposes  are 
answered  by  it,  revert  to  its  original  immaterial  and 
elementary  source.  How  absurd  is  it,  then,  to  talk 
of  MATTER  as  if  it  were  the  chief  thing  in  nature, 
when  it  is  no  more  than  Nature's  dress.  Mind  is 
the  only  agent  in  the  universe,  and  it  is  mind  that 
constitutes  man.  The  body  is  no  more  than  a  tem- 
porary covering,  connecting  man  with  the  present 
world  ;  but  which,  when  its  purposes  are  answered 
liere,  will  be  thrown  aside,  and  be  succeeded  by  a 
body  spiritual  and  indestructible. 

But  thanks  be  to  God,  that  on  a  question  so  vast 
and  so  deeply  interesting  as  this,  we  are  not  left  to 
the  dim  conjectures  of  philosophy.  We  can  confi- 
dently refer  to  the  written  words  of  God's  unerring 
truth.  And  I  think  it  impossible  for  the  most  su- 
perficial reader  of  the  sacred  Scriptures  not  to  per- 
ceive that  the  distinction  between  soul  and  body  is 
constantly  referred  to  as  a  fundamental  truth.  "  The 
dust,"  said  Solomon,  "  shall  return  to  the  earth  as  it 
was;  but  the  spirit  shall  go  to  God,  who  gave  it." 
"  Fear  not  them,"  says  our  Lord,  "  who  kill  the  body, 
but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul."  "Lord  Jesus," 
exclaimed  the  expiring  martyr  Stephen,  "receive  my 


The  Intermediate  State.  227 

spirit ! "  When  Christ  appeared  to  His  disciples 
after  His  resurrection,  they  M^ere  at  first  petrified 
with  astonishment,  "su]3posing  that  they  had  seen  a 
spirit."  "A  spirit,"  said  our  Lord,  "hath  not  flesh 
and  bones,  as  ye  see  me  have."  At  our  Lord's 
transfiguration  there  appeared  "Moses  and  Elias, 
talking  with  him."  This  would  have  been  impossible, 
if  Moses  and  Elias  had  not  been  in  existence  in  the 
spiritual  world.  And  again,  "God,"  said  our  Sa- 
viour, "  is  not  the  God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living ;" 
and  as  He  declares  himself  to  be  the  "  God  of  Abra- 
ham, of  Isaac,  and  of  Jacob,"  then  are  these  holy 
men  alive ;  they  have  survived  the  destruction  of  the 
body,  and  are  now  living  with  Jesus, 

"I  have  a  desire,"  said  the  Apostle  Paul,  "to  de- 
part and  to  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far  better "  (Phi- 
lip, i.  23).  "  We  are  confident,  I  say,  and  willing 
rather  to  be  absent  from  the  body  and  to  be  present 
with  the  Lord"  (2  Cor,  v.  8).  Now,  if  we  are 
not  to  infer  from  all  this  that  there  is  a  distinction 
between  body  and  spirit,  or  soul,  and  that  the  mind 
survives  the  destruction  of  the  body,  then  it  is  im- 
possible for  language  to  be  made  to  teach  those 
truths.  To  the  same  purpose  is  the  language  of  our 
Lord  in  that  other  text  of  Scripture :  "  Verily  I  say 
unto  thee,  to-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise," 
It  would  seem,  then,  that  as  Christians  we  are  re- 
lieved from  all  doubt  as  to  the  continued  existence 
of  the  soul.  The  dreary  doctrine  of  materialism,  and 
the  comfortless  creed  of  a  period  of  suspended  con- 
sciousness, must  alike  be  false.     The  soul  can  never 


228  The  Intermediate  State. 

for  one  moment  cease  to  be.  But  here  another  ques- 
tion, of  the  deepest  interest  to  the  heart,  suggests  it- 
self, and  it  is  one  for  which  it  will  be  wise  and  proper 
in' us  to  search  for  such  satisfaction  as  God,  in  His 
transcending  goodness,  has  afforded  to  us  in  His 
word.  If  the  soul  neither  dies  nor  sleeps,  then  where 
is  the  soul,  and  what  is  its  condition,  in  the  interval 
between  death  and  the  resurrection  ?  It  is  not  enough 
to  say  that  the  faithful  and  righteous  are  in  Heaven, 
and  the  wicked  are  in  Hell.  To  the  inquiring  and 
thoughtful  mind  the  questions  instantly  recur,  What 
is  Heaven?  What  is  Hell?  How  are  these  terms 
to  be  reconciled  with  much  of  the  teaching  of  the 
New  Testament  ?  "  To-day,"  said  Christ,  "  thou 
shalt  be  with  me  in  Paradise ! "  But  where  is 
Paradise  ?  It  is  certainly  where  our  Lord  went 
as  soon  as  He  had  fulfilled  the  condition  of  hu- 
manity here  ;  and  it  is  where  He  no  doubt  con- 
ducted the  purified  spirit  of  his  justly  suffering,  but 
humble  penitent.  But  that  it  is  not  the  very  "  Hea- 
ven of  Heavens,"  or  where  the  throne  of  God  is 
displayed  in  all  its  dazzling  glory,  I  would  infer 
from  this :  that  our  Lord,  after  His  return  to  this  earth 
from  Paradise,  commanded  the  affectionate  Mary, 
who  would  have  embraced  Him,  to  touch  Him  not,  for, 
said  He,  "  I  have  not  yet  ascended  to  my  Father  !  " 
He  had  been  well-nigh  three  days  away  from  this 
earth ;  He  had  ushered  the  spirit  of  the  penitent 
thief  into  the  society  of  the  saints  in  bliss,  and  yet 
He  had  not  been  to  His  Father.  Does  not  the  con- 
clusion seem  to  be  irresistible,  that  the  souls  of  the 


The  Intermediate  State.  '229 

faithful  do  not  pass  immediately  from  the  trials  of  the 
flesh  into  the  highest  and  unveiled  presence  of  God, 
but  that  God  has  prepared  for  them  a  paradise  of 
bliss,  where,  under  the  smiles  and  encouragement  of 
their  Redeemer,  they  repose  in  unruffled  tranquillity, 
with  the  brightest  visions  of  hope  playing  before 
them,  and  in  the  enrapturing  view  of  continual 
advancement  in  glory  ?  This,  which  has  been  the 
creed  of  tlie  Church  in  every  age  of  its  history,: — 
long  before  either  Romanism,  with  its  purgatory,  or 
Puritanism,  with  its  lack  of  reverence  for  antiquity, 
was  ever  heard  of, — and  has  never  been  doubted 
until  the  want  of  deep  learning  in  modern  times  has 
led  men,  in  their  horror  of  purgatory,  to  deny  a  most 
important  fact  in  the  history  of  redemption,  and  to 
pervert  the  plainciit  texts  from  their  direct  and  sim- 
ple meaning.  In  corroboration  of  this  view  of  a 
Scriptural  truth,  permit  me  now  to  draw  your  atten- 
tion to  those  ver}^  remarkable  words  which  are  quo- 
ted by  the  Apostle  Peter  from  the  Psalms  (Acts 
ii.  27) :  "  Thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  in  Hell : 
neither  wilt  Thou  suffer  tliy  Holy  One  to  see  corrup- 
tion," This  means,  say  some  commentators,  that  the 
body  of  Christ  should  not  be  left  in  the  grave.  But 
the  Apostle  is  speaking  of  the  soul ;  and  surely  the 
soul  never  goes  to  the  grave;  least  of  all  did  the 
soul  of  Jesus  descend  there.  The  design  of  Peterg 
in  quoting  these  words,  was  to  prove  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Christ.  The  words  were  spoken  by  David, 
but  Peter  goes  on  to  show  that  they  were  not  fulfll- 
led  in  David  ;  for,  says  he,  "  David  is  both  dead  and 


230  The  Intermediate  State. 

buried  ;  and  his  sepulchre  is  with  us  unto  this  day." 
David,  being  a  prophet  in  this  as  in  many  other  in- 
stances, personated  Christ.  He  spake,  says  the  Apos- 
tle, "  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ."  It  was  His  soul 
that  was  not  left  in  Hell ;  neither  did  His  flesh  see 
corruption.  Kow,  if  the  soul  of  Christ  was  not  left 
in  Hell,  then  it  must  have  been  there.  What,  then, 
are  we  to  understand  by  this  ?  Why,  we  are  to  un- 
derstand precisel}^  the  same  thing  as  we  do  when 
we  repeat  our  Creed,  and  say,  "  He  descended  into 
Hell,"  or  the  place  of  departed  spirits.  The  whole 
difficulty  consists  in  the  idea  which  we  now  attach  to 
the  word  Hell.  Whenever  it  is  used,  we  under- 
stand by  it  the  place  of  torment ;  the  habitation  of 
the  condemned  spirits.  But  in  the  olden  times,  in 
the  days  of  Prophets  and  Apostles,  it  was  used  to 
signifj^  the  invisible  place,  the  general  mansion  of 
disembodied  spirits.  The  Greek  word  is  "  Hades." 
The  Hebrew  is  "  Sheol."  Learned  men  tell  us,  that 
these  words  are  never  used  to  mean  the  grave  or  the 
place  of  punishment.  They  always  designate  the  in- 
visible place  of  spirits.  The  Hebrew  word  for  grave 
is  "  Keber,"  and  the  Greek,  "  Taphos."  The  word 
which  is  used  in  the  iSTew  Testament  to  designate 
tlie  place  of  torment,  as  distinguished  from  the  grave 
and  Hell,  is  "  Gehenna."  Unfortunately,  in  oui- 
translation  these  distinctions  are  too  often  confound- 
ed, and  the  same  word  is  sometimes  rendered  HjcU 
and  sometimes  the  grave ;  error  has  thus  been  pro- 
duced and  perpetuated.  But  as  soon  as  we  come  to 
understand  that  by  Hades  or  Hell  we  are  to  con- 


The  Intermediate  State.  231 

ceive  of  the  invisible  place  of  departed  spirits,  tlien 
we  are  no  longer  in  doubt  as  to  that  part  of  the 
Apostles'  Creed  which  says  that  Christ  "  descended 
into  Hell."  This  place  of  spirits,  according  to  the 
ancient  Hebrew  writers,  was  divided  into  Paradise, 
or  the  home  of  the  blessed,  and  Gehenna,  or  the 
place  of  torment.  Paradise  is  a  place  of  security,  of 
hope,  of  happiness,  of  unmingled  but  not  of  finished 
bliss.  Gehenna  is  the  prisori  of  the  profligate  and 
rebellious.  It  is  where  they  are  reserved  in  their 
own  corroding  wretchedness,  in  their  restless  and 
moody  anticipations,  and  in  a  fearful  looking-for  of 
the  judgment  and  fiery  indignation,  when  the  day 
of  the  Lord  shall  come,  when  the  trumpet  shall  sound, 
and  the  avenging  God  shall  be  revealed  in  His  tre- 
mendous majesty. 

Now,  as  our  SavioiTr  took  on  Him  the  whole  condi- 
tion of  humanity,  it  became  necessary,  as  a  part  of 
His  wonderful  humiliation,  that  He  should  share  its 
whole  destiny.  Having  done  this ;  having  gone 
where  all  men  go  at  death ;  having  there  accom- 
plished His  work,  in  proclaiming  His  victory  over 
the  grave,  and  all  the  triumph  of  redeeming  love. 
He  returned  on  the  third  day  and  "  assumed  His 
body,"  so  that  it  saw  no  corruption.  And  thus  was  it 
that  the  prediction  was  entirely  fulfilled.  His  soul 
was  not  left  in  Hell,  or  the  place  of  departed  spirits, 
whither  it  was  necessary  it  should  go ;  nor  did  His 
flesh  see  the  least  corruption  in  the  grave  where  it 
rested. 

But,  my  brethren,    there  is   another   passage   to 


232  The  Intermediate  State. 

which  you  must  let  me  direct  your  attention,  as 
tending  to  iUustrate  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  that 
the  present  home  of  the  departed  is  distinct  from 
Heaven,  their  last  and  highest  home.  I  allude  to  the 
following  words,  wliich  are  applied  by  the  Apostle 
Peter  to  Christ,  in  the  third  chapter  of  the  First 
Epistle,  and  eighteenth  verse  :  "  Being  put  to  death 
in  the  flesh,  but  quickened  by  the  Spirit ;  by  which 
also  He  w^ent  and  preached  to  the  spirits  in  prison  ; 
which  sometime  were  disobedient,  when  once  the 
long-suffering  of  God  waited  in  the  days  of  Noah." 
Commentators  have  been  sorely  puzzled  by  this 
text ;  and  many  of  them,  lest  they  should  seem  to 
countenance  the  exposition  of  the  Romish  doctrine 
in  their  views  of  purgatory,  have  gravely  assured 
us,  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  words  themselves, 
that  Christ,  by  His  Spirit,  went  in  the  days  of 
Noah,  and  preached  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  for- 
mer world.  But  by  no  possibility  can  the  words 
be  fairl}"^  made  to  imply  any  such  meaning.  They 
plainly  declare  that  Christ  went  after  His  death, 
and  preached,  not  to  men  in  the  flesh,  but  to  spirits  ; 
and  to  spirits  that  were  in  prison,  or  a  place  of  safe 
keeping  ;  to  spirits  which  sometime  were  disobe- 
dient ;  which  infers  that  they  were  not  always  so. 
The  sense  of  the  passage  I  take  to  be  this :  when 
our  Lord  passed  into  the  region  of  disembodied 
spirits,  He  there,  in  His  ever-active  mercy,  pro- 
claimed the  glad  tidings  of  His  victory  over  death, 
and  of  the  accomplishment  of  man's  redemption. 
To  the  illustrious  line  of  patriarchs,  prophets,  and 


The  Intermediate  State.  233 

holy  men  of  old,  who  had  received  the  promises 
and  died  in  their  faith ;  and  not  to  these  only,  but 
also  to  the  disobedient  men  of  the  antediluvian  race, 
whom  the  judgments  of  God  had  at  the  last  reclaimed 
from  their  delusions — to  all  of  these  He  proclaimed 
the  triumphant  tidings  that  the  one  great  sacrihce 
was  oiFered.  "  It  was  finished  !  "  The  claims  of 
the  divine  law  were  satisfied  ;  and  eternal  salvation 
was  achieved  for  all  saints.  He  proclaimed  to  them 
tliat  He  had  vanquished  him  who  had  the  power  of 
death  ;  that  He  Himself  held  the  keys  of  Death 
and  Hell,  and  that  in  His  own  good  season  He 
would  open  w^ide  Heaven's  everlasting  doors,  and 
translate  His  chosen  to  their  eternal  seats  of  light 
and  glory. 

The  reason  why  the  spirits  of  those  who  had  been 
disobedient  in  the  days  of  Noah  are  so  particularly 
mentioned  has  been  reasonably  conjectured  to  be, 
that  we  might  be  assured  that  the  antediluvians  were 
not  uninterested  in  the  work  of  redemption.  It  is 
delightful  to  the  feelings  of  Christian  benevolence 
to  believe  that  although  the  general  iniquity  of  the 
world  was  so  great  as  to  lead  the  Almighty  to  over- 
whelm it  in  the  mighty  waters,  yet  the  spiritual  condi- 
tion of  many  is  not  to  be  decided  upon  from  their  tem- 
poral ruin.  It  is  altogether  probable  that,  although 
no  more  were  preserved  in  life  than  the  purposes  of 
God  rendered  necessary,  yet  that  very  many,  when 
they  beheld  the  signs  of  the  approaching  deluge 
thickening  and  gathering  upon  them ;  when  they 
felt  the  earth  trembling  and  bursting  under  tlieir  feet ; 


234  The  Intermediate  State. 

when  they  beheld  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
breaking  up  ;  when  they  saw  the  windows  of  Heaven 
opened  and  the  floods  pouring  down,  and  in  their 
wide,  wasting  sweep  burying  all  in  ruin,  many  of 
them  repented,  deeply  repented  of  their  enormous 
sins,  and  found  refuge  in  the  mercy  of  God.  Al- 
though the  flood  took  them  all  away,  yet  those  of 
them  who  in  repentance  cried  for  pardon  were  ac- 
cepted, and  their  humble  spirits  transported  to  the 
habitation  of  the  spirits  of  the  just. 

Our  ideas  upon  the  subject  before  us  receive,  I 
think,  additional  strength  from  every  allusion  made 
by  the  inspired  writers  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
geijeral  resurrection  and  the  future  judgment.  Is 
it  not  exceedingly  difiicult  to  perceive  the  necessity 
for  any  such  solemn  and  general  development  as 
Prophets  and  Evangelists  have  so  imposingly  pictured, 
if  the  destiny  of  each  individual  is  permanently  fixed 
at  death ;  if  the  righteous  pass  directly  to  the  very 
highest  fruition  of  their  joy ;  and  if  the  countless 
hosts  of  the  redeemed  have  already  been  in  the  most 
unclouded  and  transporting  presence  of  God  for  ages  ? 
How,  then,  it  may  be  asked,  are  we  to  understand 
the  term  "  Heaven,"  which  is  so  often  used  in  the 
Scriptures  ?  And  what,  too,  is  meant  by  the  presence 
of  God  and  of  Christ,  to  which  the  souls  of  the 
faithful  are  said  to  pass  after  death?  What  means 
the  Apostle,  when  he  desires  to  depart  and  to  be 
with  Christ  ?  I  reply,  that  by  Heaven  we  are  to  un- 
derstand no  more  than  a  place  of  unmingled  bliss. 
But  the  observant  reader  must  have  remarked  that 


The  Intermediate  State.  235 

we  are  elsewhere  referred  to  the  "  highest  Heaven  ;" 
to  the  "  Heaven  of  Heavens,"  and  to  the  "  third 
Heaven."  It  is  there,  then,  and  there  only,  that  God 
unveils  His  face  in  perfect  glory,  and  that  our  joy 
shall  be  full.  So,  too,  when  men  are  said  to  die  and 
go  to  God — to  go  to  where  Christ  is — we  are  to  under- 
stand that  God  has  removed  them  from  the  impu- 
rity of  the  world,  and  elevated  them  to  a  higher  de- 
gree of  bliss,  and  a  nearer  approximation  to  His  own 
glory.  It  means  that  He  hath  transported  them  to 
mansions  in  His  vast  palace  of  happiness  which 
Christ  has  prepared  for  them,  and  where  Christ  is 
forever  manifested  as  the  Kedeemer  to  the  hosts  He 
has  saved ;  where  they  continually  feed  upon  the 
most  transporting  views  of  the  celestial  glory  which 
He  opens  before  them,  and  live  in  hope  of  what  is 
yet  to  be  revealed  to  them. 

It  is,  then,  I  think,  abundantly  evident  that  in  the 
interval  between  His  death  and  resurrection,  the 
spirit  of  our  Lord  visited  the  region  which  is  peo- 
pled by  the  populace  of  buried  nations ;  and  it  is 
there,  too,  that  our  own  souls  will  be  wafted,  as  soon 
as  we  are  permitted  to  escape  from  the  burden  of  the 
flesh. 

That  this  region  is  not  the  highest  Heaven,  or  the 
abode  of  final  and  finished  happiness,  has,  too,  I  think, 
been  sufiiciently  evinced.  The  final  reward  of  hap- 
piness or  of  misery  will  not  be  made  until  the  uni- 
versal judgment,  at  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  the 
Lord.  But  until  that  day,  in  which  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  shall  be  revealed  in  His  stupendous  greatness, 


236  The  Intermediate  State. 

to  advance  His  chosen  in  the  spheres  of  glory,  and 
to  condemn  those  who  have  scorned  His  offered  safety 
to  the  punishment  of  the  second  death — until  then,  1 
say,  the  spirits  of  the  pure  are  all  preserved  by  the 
unslumbering  vigilance  and  everlasting  power  of 
Him  whose  they  are  ;  they  repose  in  the  calm  con- 
sciousness of  peace  and  eternal  salvation  ;  they  are 
cheered  by  the  perpetual  applauses  of  conscience, 
and  they  are  animated  by  the  new  and  ever-bright- 
ening visions  of  hope.  The  wicked  are  there,  too, 
in  their  own  proper  horrors.  They  are  tortured  by 
the  raving  fury  of  guilty  and  debasing  passions  ; 
they  bow  under  the  consciousness  of  degradation, 
and  the  stings  of  remorse  ;  they  are  preyed  upon 
by  the  corroding  anguish  of  malignant  envy,  and  the 
restless,  dark,  and  unavailing  thirst  for  revenge;  and 
they  are  forever  in  fearful  anticipation  of  some 
more  dreadful  doom.  But  what  can  be  more  dread- 
ful than  this  ever-burning  but  never-consuming  lire 
of  the  mind?  Alas!  alas!  my  brethren,  the  worst 
of  all  anguish,  the  anguish  before  which  I  chiefly 
shrink,  is  the  anguish  which  may  be  wrought  by  the 
treacherous  host  of  inward  foes — the  foes  which 
wicked  men,  with  an  infatuation  which  is  awful, 
cherish  and  nurture  in  their  own  evil  hearts,  until 
the}^  grow  strong  enough  to  fan  the  fires  of  Hell  into 
a  deathless  flame. 

My  brethren,  the  foes  of  which  we  speak  can 
only  be  subdued  in  the  strength  of  God's  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  for  the  illuminating  and  sanctifying  influence 
of  this  celestial  agent    must  we  constantly  ask   in 


The  Intermediate  State.  237 

faith.  And  if  we  are  but  true  to  ourselves  in  this 
asking,  we  shall  most  surely  receive.  The  Spirit,  if 
sought,  will  always  be  found  of  us,  and  it  will  do 
what  it  alone  can  do — open  for  us  the  gate  of  Heaven. 
It  will  lead  us  to  Christ,  and  induce  us  to  build  all 
of  our  hopes  of  salvation  on  Ilim.  It  will  manifest 
to  our  dull  and  worldly  perceptions — it  will  apply 
to  our  frail  and  anxious  hearts — it  will  render  effec- 
tual to  our  everlasting  safety — the  redemption  obtain- 
ed by  Christ,  notwithstanding  the  perversity  and 
waywardness  of  our  inward  host  of  rebellious  pas- 
sions. My  brethren,  let  us  submit  to  this  training- 
let  us  turn  our  eyes  to  the  illumination  which  is 
ready  to  beam  upon  us  from  the  throne  of  God — let  us, 
under  the  conviction  of  the  peril  that  it  unfolds,  pros- 
trate ourselves  before  the  Divine  mercy,  in  the  hu- 
miliation of  penitence,  and  then,  in  the  confidence 
of  a  Heaven-inspired  faith,  let  us  cherish,  let  us 
feed  upon  a  hope  full  of  ardor,  full  of  immortality. 
Yea,  brethren,  let  us  watch,  and  pray,  and  strive, 
that  we  may  yet  reign  and  triumph  with  Jesus  in 
the  kingdom  of  the  Father.  Let  us  doubt  not,  but 
earnestly  believe  that  we  shall  pass  through  the  ave- 
nue of  death  to  be  united  to  the  society  of  the  bles- 
sed from  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people, 
who  are  engaged  in  mutual  offices  of  ceaseless  love. 
In  that  bright  mansion  we  shall  all  rejoice  together, 
from  the  patriarchal  form,  before  whose  honored 
and  hoary  head  we  shall  remember  to  have  bowed 
in  our  youth,  to  the  infant  innocent  that  we  have 
lodged  in  the  freshly-opened  grave. 


238  The  Intermediate  State. 

Then,  my  brethren,  at  the  sound  of  the  Archan- 
gel's trump,  we  shall  be  translated  to  the  still 
higher  city  of  the  living  God,  where  dwell  an  in- 
numerable company  of  Angels  and  Archangels 
clothed  in  glory,  and  where  God,  the  Judge  of  all, 
sits  arrayed  in  light !  Come  then,  my  brethren,  and 
let  us  ascend  upon  the  wings  of  faith  to  the  abodes 
of  the  blessed ;  and  let  me  conjure  you  by  all  that 
is  sublime,  by  all  that  is  bright  and  blessed  in 
Heaven,  by  its  everlasting  songs  of  joy  and  halle- 
lujahs of  thanksgiving,  to  come  to  the  almighty 
Saviour  who  is  waiting  to  receive,  to  pardon,  to 
sanctijpy,  and  to  save  you.  His  offers  of  pardon,  of 
grace,  and  eternal  safety  are  indiscriminate  and  un- 
conlined.  Let,  then,  your  eye  be  constantly  glanc- 
ing from  the  cross  where  He  died  to  redeem  you, 
to  the  throne  of  light  where  He  is  ready  to  receive 
you,  and  you  will  see  the  dark  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death  through  which  you  must  pass  illu- 
mined by  the  light  of  His  countenance,  and  then, 
when  the  Angel  of  Death  shall  appear  to  summon 
you  to  His  presence,  you  will  see  Him  throw  aside 
the  curtain  before  the  open  gates  of  Heaven,  and 
the  spirits  of  our  owm  loved  ones  of  the  earth 
waiting  to  welcome  us  to  their  eternal  home  of 
lory. 


» 


KgfcoC^^fS 

^^^^^s 

g^^^^i 

kTji 

ffi^^^Jf^^^E 

a 

JA  COB  AND  ESA  U. 

*'■  And  ivhcn  Esau  heard  the  luords  of  his  father,  lie  cried  taith  a 
great  and  exceeding  bitter  cry.  Bless  me,  eve?i  me  also,  0  my  father  f" 

Genesis  21th,  Uth. 

Y  brethren,  is  tins  the  cry  of  vexatious 

disappointment,  or  is  it  the  utterance  of 

anguish,  wrung   from   a  wounded  spirit 

under    the  sense  of  spiritual  destitution 

and  religious  loss  ? 

I  know  that  it  is  usual  to  represent  the  character 
of  Esau  as  being  but  little  worthy  of  the  Christian's 
sympathy.  I  know  that  it  is  usual  to  regard  him 
as  a  "  profane  person,"  but  little  influenced  by  the 
restraining  sanctions  of  religious  fear,  and  holding 
cheaply  the  entrancing  associations  of  religious 
hope.  But,  at  the  same  time,  I  know  human  na- 
ture too  well  not  to  understand  how  difhcult  it  is 
for  a  heart  which  has  been  early  under  the  discipline 
of  religious  training,  and  is  steadil}^  surrounded  by 
religious  associations  and  religious  examples,  entirely 
to  escape  from  shuddering  thoughts  connected  with 
religion.  As  little  sympathy  as  that  heart  may 
have  by  nature  with  spiritual  truth,  yet  there  will 
be  seasons  of  darkness  in  which  it  will  be  found 


240  Jacob  and  Esau. 

bowing  beneath  the  subduing  influence  of  the  Spirit, 
and  in  whicli  it  would  most  gladly  exchange  all  the 
most  coveted  triumphs  and  treasures  of  earth  for  a 
warrant  to  yield  its  confiding  trust  to  the  peace- 
giving  promises  of  God !  Esau  was  probably  a 
man  but  little  swayed  by  the  religion  of  his  fathers. 
Feebly  animated  by  that  flame  of  divine  love 
which  had  glowed  in  the  bosom  of  Abraham,  and 
but  rarely  yielding  to  that  dread  of  the  divine  anger 
which  had  controlled  the  life  of  Isaac,  still,  how- 
ever, as  the  first-born  of  his  mother  he  was  of 
right  the  priest  of  his  father's  house,  and  the  di- 
rect channel  through  which,  to  all  human  expecta- 
tions, the  all-glorious  promise  of  the  Messiah  should 
descend  and  be  realized.  Although  it  is  entirely  in 
keeping  with  such  a  character  that,  in  a  moment 
of  fretful  impatience,  he  should  consent  to  barter 
away  these  high  privileges  of  his  birth  for  a  mo- 
mentary gratification  which  he  coveted,  so  also  is  it 
entirely  characteristic,  that  in  the  solemn  hour  in 
which  his  aged  and  decaying  father  had  alluded  to 
his  approaching  death,  and  had  touchingly  reminded 
him  of  the  necessity  of  his  receiving,  in  the  solem- 
nity of  a  religious  rite,  the  awful  trust  of  preserving 
the  knowledge  of  a  Redeemer,  and  of  bequeathing 
the  promise  to  posterity  ;  it  is  altogether  in  charac- 
ter, I  say,  that  the  same  man  should  be  smitten 
with  a  sense  of  his  insane  and  impious  folly — that 
he  should  evince  the  most  absorbing  anxiety  to  re- 
trieve, if  possible,  the  consequences  of  his  thought- 
lessness, by  securing  the  blessing  from  the  divinely- 


Jacob  and  Esau.  241 

commissioned  lips  of  his  departing  parent,  and 
that  he  should  utter  the  most  bitter  and  piercing 
cries  of  anguish  when,  in  utter  desolation  of  heart,  he 
found,  as  he  supposed,  every  religious  prospect  dark- 
ened, and  all  religious  hope  entirely  blighted  forever. 
The  portion  of  Scripture  with  which  our  text  is 
connected  is  as  intricate  in  its  bearings,  and  perhaps 
as  perplexing  to  ordinary  readers,  as  any  other  in  the 
whole  volume  of  revealed  truth.  The  history  of  Ja- 
cob and  Esau  has  been  assailed  by  the  scoffs  of  the 
infidel,  and  it  has  embarrassed  the  faith  of  the  believ- 
er ;  and  yet  is  it  susceptible  of  the  most  satisfactory 
explanation,  and  in  every  part  is  it  replete  with  les- 
sons of  impressive  worth  to  all  the  generations  of 
our  race.  The  first  rule  that  I  would  venture  to  sug- 
gest, as  being  highly  important  for  our  guidance  in 
examining  the  characters  in  sacred  history,  is  this : 
that  we  are  never  to  suppose  that  God  approves  of 
all  the  doings  of  those  frail  creatures  whom,  in  dif- 
ferent ages.  He  has  selected  as  instruments  by  means 
of  which  He  was  to  carry  out  His  purposes  of  mercy 
to  mankind.  In  employing  them  to  deal  with  men, 
He  employed  them  as  men ;  He  did  not  make  them 
angels  ;  they  did  not  cease  to  be  human,  or  to  be  ex- 
empt from  human  weakness.  Imperfect  as  they 
were,  free  to  fall  as  they  were — and  fall  as 
they  did,  grievously  and  again — yet  were  they 
the  best  of  their  kind,  and  amid  all  their  infir- 
mities they  were  still  endued  with  qualities 
and  attributes  of  character  most  admirably 
adapted  for  the  great  ends  they  were  designed  to 

11 


242  Jacob  and  Esau. 

promote.  In  selecting  them  from  tlie  great  mass  of 
corruption  and  idolatry  which  covered  the  earth, 
as  the  foundation  upon  which  God  would  build  up 
His  spiritual  house — the  Church, — God  no  doubt 
did  wisely  and  for  the  best,  but  in  doing  so  He  did 
not  take  from  them  their  moral  liberty,  nor  is  He 
ever  to  be  understood  as  sanctioning  and  approving 
any  of  the  follies  and  crimes  into  which  the  abuse 
of  that  liberty  might  lead  these  His  responsible 
creatures.  Amid  general  irreligion  and  wickedness, 
these  men  were  in  general  luminous  models  of  faith 
and  righteousness,  to  be  reverenced  and  imitated; 
but  OCCASIONALLY  they  became  as  striking  examples 
of  the  uncertainty  of  all  human  virtue  ;  and  as  such 
they  are  to  be  marked  of  all  men,  most  cautiously 
shunned  and  humbly  lamented. 

Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  David,  Solomon,  and 
Peter  are  names  most  intimately  associated  with  the 
true  and  lasting  glory  of  God  upon  the  earth ;  but 
yet  we  are  never  to  suppose  that  these  were  sinless 
men,  or  that  their  sins  were  ever  suffered  to  be  unre- 
buked  by  their  Maker.  From  the  earnest  penitence 
and  deep  humility  of  soul  under  which  they  sought 
to  rise  from  the  debasement  and  misery  of  their  sins, 
they  were  still  recognized  as  the  friends  of  God ;  and 
God,  in  consideration  of  their  steadfast  fidelity  to  His 
worship  amid  an  almost  universal  idolatry,  was  not, 
as  the  Apostle  has  it,  "  ashamed  to  be  called  their 
God,"  notwithstanding  their  occasional  and  mournful 
lapses  from  virtue. 

This  brings  me  to  the  suggestion  of  the  second  rule 


Jacob  and  Esau.  243 

which  I  would  that  you  should  keep  in  mind  in  all 
your  examinations  into  the  characters  of  sacred  his- 
tory. The  rule  is  this :  that  you  are  to  understand 
commendations  which  are  so  constantly  and  sweep- 
ingly  bestowed  upon  these  characters,  as  having  a 
direct  and  almost  exclusive  reference  to  their  freedom 
from  the  all-withering  sin  of  idolatry.  It  is  difficult 
for  us  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  sacred  writings 
in  reference  to  that  particular  sin,  unless  we  will  con- 
sent to  remember  that  the  very  object  of  all  the  dis- 
pensations of  God  to  which  they  relate  was  to 
preserve  the  world  from  its  dreadful  influence.  When, 
therefore,  the  enemies  of  God  are  spoken  of,  idola- 
ters are  alluded  to;  and  when  the  fkiends  of  God 
are  named,  the  allusion  is  to  men  who  were  not  idol- 
aters. If  one  King  of  Israel  is  said  to  be  a  man  af- 
ter God's  own  heart,  although  his  life  may  have  been 
deeply  stained  with  moral  guilt,  the  commendation 
has  reference  only  to  his  freedom,  as  a  king,  from 
the  guilt  of  idolatry.  If  another  king,  Jeroboam,  for 
instance,  is  represented  as  being  one  who  above  all 
others  "  made  Israel  to  sin,"  although  the  nation 
were  as  morally  corrupt  as  they  well  could  be  before 
his  day,  then  are  we  to  read  the  condemnation  as 
reaching  to  his  abominable  tendency  to  the  worship 
of  false  gods. 

We  can  only  understand,  brethren,  why  it  was 
that  this  sin  eclipsed  all  others  in  the  sight  of  God, 
by  reflecting  that  the  direct  tendency  of  idolatry  is 
to  disturb  all  moral  distinctions,  to  confound  virtue 
with  vice  •  and  by  obliterating  from  the  human  mind 


244  Jacob  and  Esau. 

every  standard  of  purity  and  right,  and  all  sense  of 
law,  with  its  restraining  sanctions,  it  leaves  the  world 
without  security  from  the  wasting  influence  of  vio- 
lent and  debasing  passions.  I  come  now  to  the  par- 
ticular case  of  Jacob  and  Esau,  Jacob  had  been  se- 
lected by  God  as  the  channel  through  which  the  en- 
trancing promise  of  the  Messiah  was  to  receive  its 
fulfilment.  It  had  been  so  announced  to  his  mother ; 
nor  are  we  at  liberty  to  doubt  the  propriety  of  the 
divine  choice  in  this  respect,  when  the  religious  char- 
acters of  the  two  men  are  fairly  weighed.  He  was, 
indeed,  the  younger  son,  but  the  general  rule  that  the 
elder  should  take  precedence  in  spiritual  matters 
carried  with  it  no  binding  force  in  opposition  to  su- 
perior fitness  in  the  character  of  the  younger  man. 
Before  the  days  of  Jacob,  Seth  had  been  chosen  as 
the  keeper  of  the  promise,  before  either  Cain  or  Abel ; 
Shem  before  his  elder  brother;  and  Isaac  himself 
before  Ishmael,  the  first-born  of  Abraham  his  father. 
The  fact,  then,  had  been  most  clearly  revealed  to  Ja- 
cob, that  in  him  should  the  promise  rest.  "In  him 
and  in  his  seed  should  all  the  families  of  the  earth 
be  blessed."  The  accomplishment  of  this  promise 
was  the  great  thing  to  which  the  good  men  of  the 
earth  had  looked  from  the  earliest  ages ;  and  in  the 
religious  bosom  of  Jacob  it  seemed  to  have  been 
cherished  with  an  intensity  of  feeling  which  consum- 
ed all  other  considerations.  In  this  was  exhibited  his 
frailty,  and  from  this  proceeded  his  folly  and  his  crimes. 
My  brethren,  how  important,  how  solemn  is  the 
lesson  which  is  thus  conveyed  to  all  human  consid- 


Jacob  and  Esau.  245 

erations  !  How  imposing  is  the  reflection,  that  even 
the  holiest  motives  and  the  soundest  principles  of 
faith,  if  their  exercise  be  not  kept  in  check  and 
subjection  by  a  vigilant  regard  to  God's  laws,  may  at 
any  time  lead  us  into  the  most  blighting  errors  of 
conduct,  or  to  the  perpetration  of  the  most  enormous 
crimes  !  The  whole  history  of  our  race  will  go  to 
prove  the  truth  of  this.  Men  in  every  age,  when 
burning  with  religious  ardor  for  the  accomplishment 
of  high  hopes,  have  too  often,  in  the  vehemence  of 
their  feelings,  passed  every  bound  and  barrier,  and 
because  their  end  was  good,  they  have  too  easily  for- 
gotten that  the  means  to  which  they  have  resorted 
were  unholy  and  absolutely  blighting ;  that  al- 
though their  motives  were  not  depraved,  yet  that  the 
deeds  to  which  those  motives  led  were  every  way 
unsanctified  and  darkly  criminal !  Ah !  who  does 
not  know  how  constantly,  in  small  things  as  well  as 
in  great  matters,  "  good  men  and  true  "  have  forgot- 
ten that  the  "  end  does  not  sanctify  the  m.eans^'*  and 
that  "  we  are  never  to  do  evil  that  good  may  come 
from  it !  " 

The  great  and  peculiar  excellence  in  the  character 
of  Jacob  was  the  religious  faith  with  which  he  cher- 
ished the  Divine  promise  of  a  Redeemer,  who  should 
remove  the  curse  and  repair  the  ruin  wrought  by  the 
Fall.  The  striking  and  ruinous  defect  in  the  char- 
acter of  Esau  was  a  reckless  indifference  to  all  the 
controlling  motives  and  transporting  associations 
connected  with  this  high  and  holy  promise — an  in- 
difference which  led  him  to  evince  contempt  for  the 


246  Jacob  and  Esau. 

promised  Saviour  in  despising  the  birthright  which 
led  to  that  Saviour,  and  afterwards  to  forsake  the 
worship  of  the  God  of  his  fathers  through  the  for- 
bidden alliance  with  the  heathen  daughters  of  Heth. 

"With  such  differing  and  conflicting  attributes  of 
character  as  these,  is  it  at  all  a  subject  of  surprise  or 
complaint  that  the  frail  and  guiltj  Jacob  should  still 
in  his  faith  be  more  an  object  of  the  divine  care,  and 
be  more  extensively  employed  to  carry  out  the  divine 
purposes,  than  Esau  could  possibly  be,  who,  although 
an  injured  brother,  was  a  faithless  and  irreligious 
man? 

And  this  brings  me  to  the  most  interesting  divi- 
sion of  our  subject :  it  brings  me  to  consideration  of 
the  doctrine  of  a  retribution  for  sin,  even  in  the  pres- 
ent life.  It  brings  me  to  the  duty  of  showing  you 
that  although,  in  the  wise  economy  of  God,  we  may 
be  blessed  with  the  highest  and  most  precious  of 
spiritual  privileges  ;  although,  in  the  use  of  those  priv- 
ileges, we  may  be  devoutly  zealous,  and  while  thus 
acting  we  may  be  instrumental  in  winning  down  an 
inestimable  amount  of  good  for  our  fellow-men,  yet 
never  let  us  suppose  that  any  departure  from  the  un- 
bending and  eternal  law  of  right  can  ever  go  with- 
out its  proper  and  sure  return  of  misery.  No  mat- 
ter what  may  be  the  motive  which  leads  to  wrong- 
doing— no  matter  how  effectually  the  sin  may  be 
blotted  out  of  the  book  of  God's  remembrance  for 
eternity,  in  consideration  of  our  present  humility 
and  penitence — yet  I  believe  that  it  is  impossible 
from  the  very  nature  of  things  but  that  weong-doinq 


Jacob  and  Esau.  247 

SHOULD  PRODUCE  SORROW,  So,  at  least,  I  tliink  tliat 
saddening  experience  must  have  taught  every  lieart 
that  hears  me.  So,  too,  must  we  all  read  the  record- 
ed dispensation  of  God's  righteous  providence  in  His 
dealings  with  our  race.  In  the  remarkable  history 
before  us,  all  and  every  one  were  sinners  ;  and  so 
too  did  each  one  receive  the  punishment  due  to  his 
measure  of  guilt,  and  in  a  mode  most  strikingly  an- 
alogous to  the  nature  of  his  crime,  /^aac,  the  father, 
to  gratify  a  foolish  partiality  for  his  elder  son,  would 
have  counteracted,  if  he  could,  the  designs  of  Al- 
mighty Providence.  Esau^  the  elder  son,  after  hav- 
ing in  irreligious  levity  bartered  away  the  high  spirit- 
ual privileges  of  his  birthright,  would  yet  have  in- 
iquitously  retained  the  blessings  and  benefits  pertain- 
ing to  that  birthright,  Rebekah,  the  mother,  con- 
trived a  scheme  of  fraud  in  order  to  defeat  the  in- 
tentions of  Isaac  and  Esau,  when  she  should  have  re- 
lied, in  the  confidence  of  faith,  upon  the  sure  workings 
of  God's  just  providence.  And  Jacob  became  the 
co-worker  and  willing  instrument  for  carrying  out 
the  subtlety  of  his  mother  in  a  scheme  of  wicked  de- 
ception which  he  knew  to  merit  a  curse  rather  than 
a  blessing.  Thus  were  all  of  them  sinners,  and  so 
too  did  each  one  reap  the  bitter  fruits  of  his  unright- 
eous sowing.  God,  in  visiting  upon  each  one  precise- 
ly the  measure  of  suffering  which  his  offence  requir- 
ed, has  vindicated  before  angels  and  men  His  un- 
yielding respect  and  support  for  what  is  virtuous 
and  good,  and  His  absolute  hatred  for  what  is  wick- 
ed and  evil.    An  examination  of  that  most  exqui- 


248  Jacob  and  Esau. 

sitely  dispensed  retribution  will,  I  trust,  impress  upon 
our  hearts  the  caution  and  solemn  warning  which 
our  proneness  to  evil  demands,  while  the  mekcy 
which  we  will  find  most  beautifully  mingled  with 
the  judgments,  will  sustain  the  hope  which  ought  to 
save  the  most  guilty  from  despair. 

If,  my  brethren,  it  has  been  impossible  for  us  to 
trace  anything  in  the  development  of  this  history 
sufficient  to  satisfy  us  that  any  punishment  had 
fallen  upon  these  guilty  agents  on  this  side  of  the 
grave,  yet  would  it  have  afforded  us  no  ground  for 
distrusting  the  retributive  justice  of  Heaven.  For 
while  the  Bible  represents  the  practice  of  holiness 
as  having  a  general  tendency  to  secure  serenity  and 
happiness,  even  in  the  present  life,  yet  does  it  at 
the  same  time  caution  us  against  the  error  of  sup- 
posing either  that  this  world's  outward  prosperity  is 
to  be  the  reward  of  goodness,  or  that  the  practice  of 
iniquity  is  to  be  necessarily  attended  with  all  sorts 
of  evil  fortune.  On  the  contrary,  the  Scriptures 
uniformly  exhort  us  to  look  to  eternity  rather  than 
to  time  for  the  full  development  of  God's  retribu- 
tive justice.  Although,  if  we  could  but  read  the 
heart,  I  am  quite  sure  we  should  discover  that  out- 
ward prosperity  was  no  index  of  happiness  to  the 
guilty  mind,  yet  here,  to  all  outward  appearance, 
"  the  same  events  too  often  happen  alike  to  all,"  and 
we  are  taught  to  look  to  futurity  for  the  reward 
which  shall  be  openly  annexed  to  each  man's  deeds. 
The  wicked  may  now  seem  to  flourish,  amid  all  the 
changes  of  time  and  the  revolutions  of  the  world, 


Jacob  and  Esau.  249 

which  bring  dark  misfortune  upon  other  folk ;  jet 
must  we  look  forward  to  the  retribution  which  awaits 
them  with  shuddering  and  horror — and  most  anx- 
iously should  we  warn  them  of  the  necessit}'^  of  avert- 
ing, by  faith  and  penitence,  the  recompense  that 
awaits  the  guilty  and  unrepenting  at  the  resm-rec- 
tion  of  the  dead. 

The  principle,  then,  to  which  I  cling  is  this : 
that  BETKiBUTioN  FOLLOWS  CRIME ; — to  the  heart  and 
secret  feelings  of  the  sinner  it  is  always  so,  even  in 
THIS  LIFE.  To  the  superficial  observation  of  others, 
this  may  not  always  be  apparent  here;  but  as  sm-ely 
as  there  is  a  God  that  judgeth  the  earth,  just  as  cer- 
tainly will  the  beautifully  proportioned  arrangements 
in  the  retributive  justice  of  that  God  be  seen  and 
known  of  all  men  in  the  great  day  of  account  that 
is  before  us  ! 

In  the  history  we  are  considering,  as  it  has  been 
written  for  the  instruction  and  warning  of  all  men, 
so  may  all  men  see  the  Divine  Providence  vindi- 
cated in  the  punishments  which  clearly  follow  upon 
the  crimes  of  each  of  the  agents  in  the  scene, — pun- 
ishments which  were  not  only  speedily  inflicted,  but 
which  were  in  the  most  striking  harmony  with  the 
natm-e  and  measure  of  their  offences.  Tlie  crime  of 
Isaac  consisted  in  his  permitting  his  heart  to  yearn 
with  a  misplaced  and  overweening  fondness  upon  a 
less  deserving  child,  and  in  seeking  to  bestow  upon 
that  child  a  religious  blessing,  notwithstanding  the 
child's  religious  disobedience  and  waywardness,  and 
the  divine   teaching  to   the  con trary^  miraculously 

11* 


250  Jacob  and  Esau. 

given.  His  punishment  consisted  in  the  bitter  disap- 
pointment he  experienced  in  finding  the  long-cher- 
ished purpose  of  his  heart  frustrated  and  defeated 
forever,  at  the  very  moment  of  its  fancied  fulfilment. 
All !  how  dreadful  must  have  been  the  anguish  of 
wounded  feeling  in  the  bosom  of  the  poor  old  man, 
to  find  that,  while  he  supposed  he  was  manifesting 
his  tenderness  for  the  son  of  his  love,  and  conferrino- 
upon  him  an  inestimable  blessing,  he  was  abso- 
lutely (and  through  the  execrable  duplicity  of  the 
wife  of  his  bosom)  alienating  "  the  promise  "  from 
Esau  forever,  and  pouring  out  the  warmest  and 
weightiest  wishes  of  his  dying  heart  upon  the  head 
of  Jacob.  Upon  the  erring  and  guilty  mother  the 
punishment  was  as  direct,  and  far  more  severe !  The 
pui-pose  of  God  with  respect  to  Jacob  even  her 
wicked  devices  could  not  be  permitted  to  defeat,  but 
the  very  success  with  which  her  subtleties  seemed  to 
be  crowned  became  to  her  a  source  of  incurable 
wretchedness  and  desolation  of  heart.  From  the 
horn-  of  her  guilt,  the  child  of  her  heart's  best  love, 
long  and  anxiously  as  he  had  been  cherished,  was 
separated  from  her  forever.  He  was  driven  as  a  fu- 
gitive and  houseless  wanderer  from  the  home  of  his 
father  ;  and  never,  no,  never  did  the  eye  of  his  loving 
mother  light  upon  his  face  again  !  With  the  re- 
jected and  injured  Esau  was  she  compelled  to  make 
her  home.  He  was  the  ruler  of  his  father's  house, 
and  the  heir  of  his  substance ;  but  from  him  she  had 
no  right  to  expect  sympathy  or  consolation.  As  a 
child  so  deeply  injured,  she  could  scarcely  look  to 


Jacob  and  Esau.  251 

him  for  either  confidence  or  afiection.  In  the  midst 
of  her  dark  desolation  and  the  multitude  of  her  sor- 
rows, she  had  no  one  to  comfort  her.  In  the  feeble- 
ness of  her  waning  years,  she  could  weep  at  the 
recollection  of  the  loved  and  the  lost ;  but  she  could 
only  weep  "  unpitied  and  alone  !  " 

"We  come  now  to  glance  at  the  influence  which  his 
crime  exerted  upon  the  after-events  in  the  life  of 
Jacob.  We  have  already  seen  him  flying  as  a  crim- 
inal into  the  vast  and  howling  wilderness,  and  toiling 
his  anxious  way  towards  distant  lands ;  without  friends 
to  succor  or  servants  to  guide,  without  tent,  and  with- 
out camel ;  as  a  lonely  "  Syrian,  ready  to  perish," 
with  his  staff"  only  did  he  pass  the  waters  of  Jordan. 
And  then,  as  we  continue  to  trace  his  movements, 
how  continually  and  how  wonderfully  did  each  re- 
markable misfortune  of  his  life  serve  to  bring  back 
upon  his  bleeding  heart  the  recollection  of  his  fault ! 

"  By  subtlety  he  had  imposed  upon  his  father,  and 
by  subtlety  did  Laban,  the  father,  impose  upon  him  ! 
He  had  betrayed  his  father  into  the  acceptance  of  the 
less  beloved  instead  of  the  more  beloved  son,  and 
by  a  father  was  he  himself  betrayed  into  the  accept- 
ance of  the  less  beloved  instead  of  the  more  beloved 
daughter !  Isaac  supposed  it  had  been  Esau,  and  he 
blessed  him.  Behold  it  was  Jacob,  and  yet  he  was 
constrained  to  confirm  the  blessing !  Jacob  himself 
supposed  it  had  been  Rachel,  and  he  married  her. 
Behold  it  was  Leah,  but  yet  he  was  constrained  to 
confirm  the  unwilling  choice ! "  In  a  most  impor- 
tant and  deeply  interesting  matter  he  had  wounded 


252  Jacob  and  Esau. 

tlie  affections  of  another,  and  so,  too,  in  a  matter  the 
most  important  and  deeply  interesting  of  his  life, 
were  his  affections  wounded  in  return.  Late  was 
Rachel  gained,  and  early  was  she  lost ;  and  as  he 
had  caused  his  father  to  grieve  at  beholding  the 
promise  descend  to  Jacob's,  and  not  Esau's  seed,  so 
was  he  also  grieved  at  beholding  the  same  promise 
continued  in  Leah's,  and  not  Rachel's  line.  It  was 
to  Judali,  and  not  to  Josej)h,  that  the  sceptre  was 
given.  Instead  of  being  "  Lord  over  his  hrethren^'' 
as  the  literal  reading  of  his  father's  blessing  would 
have  led  him  to  expect,  he  lived  to  bow  down  in 
abject  humility  before  his  brother.  As  his  crime  had 
brought  dissension  into  his  father's  family,  and  in- 
flicted upon  the  venerable  old  man  the  misery  of 
seeing  his  sons  at  enmity  with  each  other,  the  elder 
seeking  for  the  blood  of  the  younger,  so  also  was 
dissension  brought  into  his  own  house,  and  hatred, 
variance,  and  bitter  strife  were  the  sad  portion  of  his 
parental  days. 

Our  limits  will  not  permit  me  to  trace  him  through 
all  the  sorrows  of  his  life,  but  the  wonderful  propriety 
and  appropriateness  with  which  his  pimishment  fol- 
lowed upon  his  crime  cannot  escape  even  the  most 
thoughtless  reader  of  the  sacred  pages. 

Jacob  himself  appears  to  have  been  most  deeply 
affected  by  the  sadness  which  had  given  its  hue  to 
his  lot  in  life  ;  and  the  pathetic  testimony  which  he 
bore,  in  the  evening  of  his  days,  to  the  melancholy 
which  had  covered  them  as  they  rolled  away  from 
him,  is  worthy  of  more  attention  than  mere  words  of 


Jacob  and  Esau.  253 

course  from  a  repining  old  man.  "  Evil "  as  well  as 
"  few,"  said  he,  "  have  the  days  of  the  years  of  my 
pilgrimage  been  !  " 

Now,  my  brethren,  when  we  thus  see  how  surely 
and  appropriately  retribution  follows  upon  wrong- 
doing, even  in  the  greatest  and  best  of  men — if  we 
see  that  even  the  elect  of  God,  they  to  whom  apper- 
tained "  the  adoption,  the  glory,  and  the  covenants," 
were  made  to  suffer  long  for  the  evil  they  had  done, 
then  let  us  not  suppose  that  the  seeds  we  may  have 
sown  in  the  fields  of  the  wicked  one  will  ever  fail  to 
produce  their  proper  return  of  sorrow  and  of  shame ! 
And,  oh  !  let  us  heed  the  warning  that  is  thus  loudly 
spoken  to  our  hearts  against  being  beguiled  anew 
into  the  deceitful  ways  of  sin  ! 

But  conscience-stricken  as  we  may  be  under  the 
reflections  which  these  suggestions  are  calculated  to 
awaken,  yet  how  comforting  is  it  to  know  that  it  has 
ever  been  the  way  with  God  "  to  dress  with  His  own 
hand  the  wound  which  the  sins  of  His  creatures 
have  compelled  Him  to  inflict,"  and  so  to  prove  that 
He  smote  them  with  a  Father's  love.  Scarcely  had 
Adam  fallen  when  He  hastened  to  publish  to  him  the 
method  He  had  appointed  for  his  recovery.  It  was 
thus  that  the  etjin  and  the  kaijsom  entered  Paradise 
together.  Scarcely  had  Nathan  uttered  his  parable 
of  keen  reproach  to  David,  when  he  was  taught  to 
add,  "  The  Lord  hath  put  away  thy  sin  ! "  Scarcely 
had  Peter  denied  his  Lord,  and  wept  bitter  tears  in 
the  humility  of  his  repenting  heart,  when  Jesus  sent 
him  merciful  tokens  of  His  forgiveness.     And  so,  too. 


254  Jacob  and  Esau. 

in  that  forlorn  moment  when  Jacob,  as  a  wretched 
wanderer,  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head  in  the  cold 
and  desolate  wilderness,  did  God,  even  the  justly- 
offended  God  of  his  fathers,  open  the  Heavens  before 
the  outcast,  to  assure  him  that  He  had  not  forgotten 
to  be  gracious,  nor  had  He  shut  up  His  loving-kind- 
ness in  everlasting  displeasure ;  that  perverse  as  his 
way  had  been,  and  loudly  as  it  called  to  Heaven  for 
the  punishment  it  would  receive,  yet  still  the  bruised 
reed  should  not  be  broken,  nor  should  God's  favor  be 
cancelled  forever ;  that,  notwithstanding  God's  dis- 
pleasure for  a  season,  yet  might  the  sufferer  find 
cause  for  triumph  and  cheer  in  the  blessed  assurance 
of  his  final  interest  in  a  Saviour  to  come.  Ah  !  how 
delightful  it  is  thus  to  be  able  to  vindicate  the  merci- 
ful dealings  of  our  God  with  man  !  And  although, 
my  brethren,  we  may  here  be  troubled  on  every  side, 
never,  while  the  bow  of  promise  spans  the  heavens, 
will  we  be  distressed  without  hope.  We  may  be 
perplexed,  but  we  will  not  be  in  despair.  We  may 
be  persecuted,  but  we  will  not  be  forsaken.  We 
may  be  cast  down,  but  never — no,  never,  through  the 
strength  of  Jesus,  will  we  be  destroyed  ! 


REPENTANCE. 


"  Suppose  ye  that  these  Galileans  were  sinners  above  all  the  Gali- 
leans, because  they  suffered  such  things?  I  tell  you,  Nay  ;  but  except 
ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish.^'' 

lAike  ISth,  2d,  Sd. 


HO  these  Galileans  were  whose  blood 
Pilate  had  mingled  with  their  sacrifices 
history  does  not  tell  lis.  It  is  j)resumed, 
however,  that  they  were  a  set  of  factious 
men,  professing  to  be  the  followers  of  one  Judas  of 
Galilee,  who  taught  that  the  Lord  was  the  only  King 
of  His  people,  and  that  it  was  not  lawful  to  pay  tri- 
bute to  Csesar.  A  party  of  these  men  Pilate  had 
surprised  and  slaughtered,  while  engaged  in  the  sol- 
emn offices  of  their  religion.  And  to  show  his  con- 
tempt and  wrath  for  their  seditious  doctrines,  he  had 
caused  their  blood  to  be  mingled  with  that  of  the 
animals  they  were  consuming  in  sacrifice.  Because 
this  butchery  was  permitted  by  Providence,  the  Jews 
regarded  it  as  a  strong  manifestation  of  the  Divine 
anger,  and  as  a  direct  judgment  upon  the  sufierers 
for  their  great  impiety.  But  when  the  circumstance 
was  mentioned  to  our  Lord,  He  promptly  rebuked 
the  popular  but  mistaken  view  of  it,  as  being  neces- 


256  liepentance. 

sarily  a  direct  judgment  from  Heaven  upon  more 
than  ordinary  wickedness.  He  tells  them  that  the 
visitations  of  God's  providence  are  not  always  to  be 
construed  into  punishments  for  flagrant  iniquity,  nor 
are  we  with  spiritual  complacency  to  draw  conclu- 
sions as  to  our  own  superior  righteousness  because 
we  are  exempt  from  such  calamities,  "  These  Gali- 
leans were  not  sinners  above  all  the  Galileans,  be- 
cause they  suffered  such  things,"  nor  were  those  upon 
whom  the  Tower  of  Siloam  fell  and  slew  them, 
greater  sinners  than  other  men  in  Jerusalem.  "  I 
tell  you,  nay ;  but  except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  like- 
wise perish ! " 

The  first  important  truth  with  which  I  would  seek 
to  impress  you  from  these  words  is  this  :  That  we 
are  never  to  conclude  that  we  are  better  than  other 
men  only  because  we  do  not  suffer  so  much.  The 
habit  of  forming  private  judgments  as  to  the  end 
and  objects  of  the  Divine  providence  is  delusive  and 
dangerous,  and  calculated  to  foster  spiritual  arro- 
gance. That  the  occurrences  of  time  are  regulated 
by  Him  who  will  rule  through  eternity,  it  would  be 
impiety  to  doubt  or  deny.  But  who  can  suppose 
that  we  should  be  permitted  to  understand  the  end 
of  His  doings  from  their  beginning;  or  that  the 
final  cause,  the  design  of  the  Deity,  in  the  opera- 
tions we  witness  should  always  be  known  by  the 
weakest,  the  most  ignorant,  and  the  most  fallible  of 
mankind  ?  Yet  to  draw  the  most  absolute  conclu- 
sions as  to  the  Divine  approbation  or  displeasure  from 
the  apparent  manifestations  of  His  providence  is  too 


Bepentance.  257 

often  considered  to  be  the  legitimate  dictate  and  duty 
of  religion,  and  has  too  often  been  the  occasion  of 
self-righteous  and  malignant  persecutions,  but  little 
consistent  with  the  humility  of  the  Christian  faith. 

Although,  my  brethren,  the  moral  retril^ution  for 
crime  is  far  more  certainly  and  more  extensively  felt, 
even  in  this  life,  than  superficial  thinkers  are  apt  to 
imagine,  yet  it  is  in  general  a  secret  and  personal  ex- 
perience ;  and  so  far  as  the  eye  of  the  world  is  con- 
cerned, this  life  is  not  the  season  for  the  necessary 
and  manifest  punishment  of  guilt  or  the  reward  of 
righteousness.  It  is  precisely  because  we  do  not  per- 
ceive a  regular  system  operating  here  in  the  distri- 
bution of  happiness  and  misery  that  the  human 
heart  argues  so  strongly  for  a  future  and  more  per- 
fect system  of  existence — where  the  rewards  shall  be 
reaped  for  which  our  present  discipline  is  preparing 
us,  and  the  happiness  we  enjoy  shall  be  proportioned 
to  the  discipline  we  have  cherished,  and  the  works 
of  holiness  and  charity  by  which  our  lives  have  been 
marked. 

If  we  accustom  ourselves  to  believe  that  serious 
misfortunes  in  this  life  are  always  judgments  sent 
from  God,  we  must,  of  course,  come  to  regard  suc- 
cess as  the  measure  of  merit,  and  agree  that  a  cause 
must  be  just  which  for  the  moment  is  triumphant. 
But  how  dreadful  would  be  the  teaching  of  this 
philosophy  !  Who  does  not  perceive  that  it  is  indeed 
pregnant  with  evils,  against  which  true  religion  has 
never  ceased  to  frov/n  and  to  protest  ?  That  "  God 
will  prosper  the  right  "  is  strictly  true,  if  it  be  con- 


258  Repentcmce. 

sidered  in  reference  to  the  ultimate  and  final  conse- 
quence of  actions.  But  the  maxim  is  sinful  and  im- 
pertinent if  it  be  applied  to  the  petty  and  impure 
contests  for  power,  or  to  the  passionate  struggles 
for  triumph  in  the  sublunary  world.  Nothing  can 
be  more  directly  contrary  to  religion  than  to  sup- 
pose that  the  Deity  should  immediately  manifest 
the  intention  of  His  doings  to  the  demands  of  human 
curiosity.  It,  on  the  contrarj",  constitutes  the  very 
test  and  triumph  of  religious  faith,  that  God's  ways 
are  not  as  our  ways,  nor  His  judgments  as  ours. 

Joseph,  as  the  slave  of  Potiphar,  and  in  the  dark- 
ness of  his  prison-house,  was  to  all  human  appear- 
ance an  unfortunate  and  degraded  man,  nor  could 
any  human  wisdom  have  predicted  that  he  should  so 
soon  have  become  tlie  lord  of  all  Egypt.  And  so, 
too,  the  outlawed  and  condemned  Daniel  was  raised, 
by  the  almighty  providence  of  his  God,  from  the 
den  of  fei'ocious  beasts  to  the  enjoyment  of  the 
princely  magnificence  of  the  East.  It  is  thus  that 
God  mocks  and  defeats  the  calculations  of  human 
wisdom.  But  goodness  does  not  always  rise  upon 
the  ruins  of  crime  in  the  present  life.  The  pure 
spirit  of  the  martyred  Stephen  reaped  the  only  re- 
ward of  faith  and  of  a  cruel  death  with  the  Lord 
Jesus  in  heaven.  And  the  example  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Himself  should  surely  be  sufiicient  to  satisfy 
us  that,  according  to  the  measure  of  God's  justice, 
virtue  is  not  always  to  look  for  its  triumphs  in  time. 

Oh,  no  !  this  earth  is  not  the  inheritance  of  the 
just !     Many,  very  many  have   been   prepared  for 


Repentance.  259 

heaven  only  through  humbling  vicissitudes  and  heart- 
rending bereavements.  In  common,  m)"  brethren, 
I  fear  we  all  talk  too  presumptuously  of  the  dispen- 
sations and  designs  of  God. 

Narrow,  selfish,  and  superstitious  notions  of  the 
Deity  and  of  His  providence  are  in  every  way 
mischievous.  Alas  !  my  brethren,  with  the  historj-- 
of  the  world  before  us,  and  with  our  own  observa- 
tion of  every-day  life,  who  will  venture  arroga.ntly 
to  pronounce  upon  this  thing,  that  it  is  a  blessing, 
and  upon  that  thing,  that  it  is  a  curse  ?  That  this 
man  God  is  exalting,  because  the  sun  now  shines  on 
his  path,  and  that  another  man  God  means  to  depress 
and  destroy,  because  present  misfortunes  cloud  his 
path  with  gloom  ?  Who  can  ever  know  how  far 
God  designs  to  discipline  us  by  apparent  prosperity, 
or  when  or  how  we  are  to  be  advanced  to  future 
exaltation  through  the  ministry  of  present  sorrow 
and  pain  ? 

But  one  thing  we  may  know,  and  that  is,  that 
while  in  humility  and  patience  we  are  to  commit 
our  souls,  with  their  immortal  interests,  to  Him  who 
has  formed  them  for  His  glory,  and  from  whose 
knowledge  no  littleness  can  escape — whose  power  no 
magnitude  can  resist,  whose  kindness  no  ingratitude 
can  exhaust,  and  of  whose  goodness  every  creature 
partakes — we  are  never  at  the  same  time  to  demand 
that  He  would  evince  His  approbation  or  displeas- 
ure to  suit  the  vain  or  captious  fancies  of  conceited 
man. 

It  was  once,  as  we  know,  a  part  of  English  law 


260  Repentance. 

that  miraculous  support  should  be  the  test  of  inno- 
cence. And  the  judge  who  calmly  expected  that 
the  trembling  prisoner  before  him  should  prove  his 
innocence  by  walking  harmlessly  over  red-hot  iron 
was  not  more  irrational  than  the  enthusiastic  secta- 
rian of  our  own  times,  who  contends  for  the  truth 
of  his  peculiar  doctrines  only  because  they  have 
met  with  a  temporary  success  in  the  world.  There 
is  no  absurdity  so  glaring,  there  is  no  superstition 
so  blighting,  there  is  no  heresy  so  seriously  injurious 
to  the  progress  of  truth,  that  may  not  at  some  time 
or  other  have  been  sustained,  if  tried  by  a  test  like 
this! 

But  a  second  lesson,  my  brethren,  which  we  are 
at  liberty  to  draw  from  this  portion  of  the  Scripture 
is  this,  that  the  visitations  of  God's  providence, 
whether  they  be  designed  as  immediate  punishments 
for  personal  transgressions  or  not — a  matter  at  no 
time  within  our  province  to  decide — may  yet,  al- 
ways and  at  all  times,  be  ordered  to  exert  a  salutary 
influence  upon  other  minds. 

The  man  who  is  cut  off  by  a  sudden  and  violent 
death  may  not  have  been  moke  criminal  than  other 
men  ;  but  it  may  be  that  his  God  removes  him  in 
mercy,  just  when  He  perceives  that  he  is  as  good  as 
he  ever  would  be.  It  may  be  that  he  is  at  that 
time  better  than  other  men,  and  therefore  better 
prepared  to  go ;  or  it  may  be  that  he  is  perversely 
and  hopelessly  wicked,  and  therefore  deserving  of 
any  fate.  But  however  this  may  be,  who  is  there 
of  us  that  can  at  any  time   see   a  fellow-creature 


Repentance.  261 

overwhelmed  in  a  moment,  and  consigned  to  bis 
great  account,  whether  it  be  in  yonth,  in  manhood, 
or  in  age :  whether  it  be  in  virtue  or  in  wicked- 
ness,  without  being  instinctively  led  to  inquire. 
Why  have  I  been  spared  while  he  is  removed  ;  am  I 
prepared  to  go  ?  Who  is  there  that  has  reached 
half  the  term  of  human  life,  and  when  he  looks  back 
upon  the  catalogue  of  the  associates  of  his  early 
years,  and  asks,  where  are  they  ?  but  must  feel  a 
sense  of  desolation  chilling  the  life-blood  of  his 
heart,  and  is  not  instinctively  led  to  ask,  Why  am  I 
thus  alone  in  the  world,  of  all  the  warm  friends  of 
by-gone  times  ?  Why  am  I  not  with  them  where 
they  now  are  ?  My  brethren,  mark  this  :  we  may 
have  been  spared,  not  because  we  are  purer  and  bet- 
ter, but  because  we  were  more  impure  and  defiled, 
and  less  prepared  to  go.  We  have  been  spared,  it 
may  be,  in  God's  forbearing  mercy,  that  we  might 
reform  our  lives ;  or  it  may  be  that  we  are  preserved 
to  be  made  use  of  as  instruments  for  the  discipline 
of  others ;  and  then  perhaps,  if  we  reform  not,  to 
be  ourselves  the  more  conspicuous  monuments  of 
the  folly  and  infatuation  of  perverse  and  sinful 
courses. 

"  Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise  perish !  " 
Let  us  never  then,  my  brethren,  dwell  with  com- 
placency upon  the  guilt  or  the  misery  of  othere. 
Let  us  rather  contemplate  all  calamity  with  pity,  and 
all  flagrant  wickedness  with  shuddering  and  with  hor- 
ror. Let  us  always  pause  with  solemn  feelings  before 
the  extraordinary  manifestation  of  God's  providence. 


262  Repentance. 

and  on  the  instant,  faitlifuUy  communing  with  our 
own  liearts,  let  us  strive  to  discover  what  we  have 
of  ourselves  to  answer  at  His  awful  bar,  if  our  sum- 
mons should  now  come.  Ay,  every  visitation  that 
overtakes  others  is  a  warning  to  ourselves  to  con- 
sider the  condition  and  fate  of  humanity.  Thej 
require  us  as  rational  beings  to  recall  our  scattered 
thoughts,  to  examine  our  past  conduct,  and  to  pon- 
der the  consequences  of  our  actions,  to  repent  of  our 
iniquities,  and  thus  to  prepare  for  our  summons,  lest 
we  perish  eternally. 

My  brethren,  it  is  the  property  of  true  wisdom  to 
draw  from  all  human  experience  something  for  our 
own  improvement ;  and  if  our  observation  of  the 
orderings  of  Providence  are  not  directed  to  this  end, 
they  are  worthless.  It  would  rather  seem,  however, 
from  the  practice  of  mankind,  that  they  used  the 
merciful  warning  which  God  is  affording  them  in 
the  fate  of  others  only  as  food  for  their  self-right- 
eousness. They  too  often  silently  attach  merit  to 
themselves  because  they  have  not  been  visited  with 
calamity;  and  they  learn  to  magnify  the  frailties  of 
the  unfortunate,  that  their  own  deficiencies  may  be 
concealed  by  the  comparison.  Now  it  is  against  all 
this  that  I  would  most  anxiously  warn  you.  My 
brethren,  we  know  not  the  hearts  of  other  men  ;  we 
know  not  the  ways  of  God  ;  but  this  we  may  know, 
that  if  God  should  be  extreme  to  mark  iniquity 
against  us,  we  must  all  die  !  Let  every  heart  realize 
its  own  responsibilities  and  its  own  deficiencies,  and 
then  let  every  ear  drink  in  the  solemn  declaration  of 


Repentance.  263 

the  text — Except  ye  repent  ye  shall  all  perish  !  My 
brethren,  it  is  a  guiding  maxim  of  inestimable  wortli ! 
Let  us  then  engrave  it  on  our  hearts,  and  carry  it  on 
the  palms  of  our  hands.  Let  us  write  it  upon  our 
door-posts,  and  upon  the  foreheads  of  the  children  of 
our  love,  that  we  may  read  it  with  the  morning  light, 
and  with  the  shades  of  evening.  It  reduces  us  to 
the  very  point  from  which  the  first  step  in  the  way 
of  salvation  must  be  taken.  Repentance  is  the 
"strait  gate"  through  which  we  are  to  enter  into 
life.  If  the  way  be  narrow  it  is  pl<iin.  It  requires 
no  acuteness  or  discrimination,  no  unusual  share  of 
intelligence  to  discover  it.  An  honest  mind  and  a 
sincere  heart  can  be  at  no  loss  about  it.  It  requires 
no  deep  learning  nor  profound  philosophy,  no  acute- 
ness of  perception  to  read  aright  this  simple  message 
from  God — "  Except  ye  repent,  ye  shall  all  likewise 
perish."  The  issue,  then,  is  fairl}'-  before  us.  Will 
we  repent?  will  we  forsake  our  evil  ways?  will 
we  accept  of  God's  offered  grace,  and  cast  ourselves 
on  His  mercy  in  Christ?  or  will  we  resist  His  spirit 
— neglect  His  offered  salvation — hold  on  to  our  sins, 
and  thus  defy  His  power  and  brave  His  eternal 
wrath  ?  If  such  be  our  decision,  then  must  God 
cease  to  be  everything  that  He  now  is  before  we  can 
be  saved.  His  holiness,  His  justice,  and  His  truth 
must  be  destroyed  before  He  can  confound  inno- 
cence with  guilt,  or  bestow  the  rewards  of  virtue 
upon  profligacy  and  crime  ! 

To  the  impenitent  and  unbelieving,  the  idea  of  a 
God  of  holiness  is  fearful  !     But  the  terrors  of  the 


264  Repeatcmce. 

Lord  sleep  in  forbearance  that  men  may  be  allured  to 
righteousness.  Christ  has  banished  from  the  throne 
of  the  Eternal  the  lightning  which  might  be  made  to 
play  around  it.  He  has  banished  the  thunders  which 
might  appall  the  guilty  soul.  He  mingles  the 
beams  of  mercy  with  the  splendors  of  omnipotence, 
and  in  soothing  accents  of  pity  He  invites  the  peni- 
tent to  safety  and  to  repose.  My  brethren,  there  is 
not  one  of  us  whom  the  Saviour  would  not  gladly  re- 
ceive into  the  arms  of  His  mercy.  There  is  not  one 
of  us  over  whose  repentance  the  angels  of  heaven 
would  not  rejoice.  Oh  !  come,  then,  before  the  heart 
be  utterly  seared  by  the  hardening  influence  of  crime ; 
before  the  day  of  salvation  be  past — before  death  over- 
whelms us  forever — let  us  consent  to  lay  hold  on  the 
glorious  and  entrancing  hope  that  is  set  before  us  ! 

By  the  sacredness  of  your  religious  hopes  and  by 
the  value  of  your  eternal  peace  would  I  exhort  you, 
to  compare  your  hearts  and  lives  with  the  precepts 
of  the  God  you  profess  to  adore.  Think  of  your 
open  ofiences  and  your  secret  sins.  Think  of  yom* 
omissions  of  duty  and  your  violation  of  express  com- 
mands. Think  of  all  your  broken  resolutions  and 
abused  mercies,  and  then  let  the  warning  of  the 
Saviour  ring  in  your  ears — "  Except  ye  repent,  ye 
shall  perish ! " 

If  there  be  a  heart  among  you  that  feels  its  need 
of  repentance,  that  feels  the  necessity  of  doing  some- 
thing in  the  matter  of  preparation  for  eternity  that 
it  has  never  yet  done,  and  yet  postpones  its  duty  to 
God  as  if  times  and  seasons  were  its  own,  and  as  if 


Ilepentance.  2G5 

you  could  command  tlie  arrows  of  death,  that  are 
flying  so  thick  around  you  as  to  darken  the  very  at- 
mospliere  of  life,  and  which  are  hourly  prostrating 
thousands  without  notice  or  warning — without  per- 
haps one  moment's  time  for  repentance,  or  to  offer 
up  one  single  prayer  for  pardon  ; — thus,  I  say,  to  feel 
the  need  of  repentance,  and  yet  rejyent  not,  is  no  more 
than  weak  and  wicked  trifling.  It  is  a  plain  and 
awful  mockery  of  Him  whose  smile  is  Heaven,  but 
whose  frown  is  Hell ! 

There  are  but  few  men  upon  the  earth  who  have 
not,  in  some  hours  of  solemn  thought,  resolved  upon 
future  repentance  and  reformation  of  life.  More 
than  this;  I  have  the  strongest  persuasion  that  if  we 
could  but  penetrate  the  dreary  abodes  of  the  lost, 
we  would  find  but  few  there  who  had  not  at  some 
time  or  other  cherished  similar  intentions,  but  the 
convenient  season  never  came.  And  if  you,  my 
brethren,  continue  to  withhold  from  God  in  your 
days  of  joy  and  healtli,  it  is  awful  to  think  how 
easily  you  may  be  seduced  from  Him  in  your  short 
and  bitter  intervals  of  languor  and  disease.  Even 
after  health  and  strength  have  departed  and  the 
fever  of  death  is  at  work  in  the  veins,  yet  amid  the 
flattery  of  hope  and  the  inspiring  wishes  of  friends, 
how  many  are  swept  away  by  death  before  they  well 
could  realize  that  they  were  mortal  and  must  go ! 
How  many  are  buoyed  up  by  the  desire  of  life  and 
the  expectation  of  recovery,  and  wait  to  devote  the 
soul  to  the  Creator  until  the  very  moment  that  it  is 
quivering  to  escape  from  their  lips  !     By  all  that  is 

12 


266  liepcntajice. 

important  in  eternity,  by  all  that  is  truly  peaceful 
and  tranquillizing  in  time,  b}'  all  that  is  consoling 
and  by  all  that  can  be  terrific  in  the  hour  of  death, 
would  I  conjure  you  not  to  postpone  the  repentance 
that  is  due  to  your  God  until  your  life  has  been  ex- 
hausted in  the  ways  of  sin,  until  for  you  the  last 
DAY  has  arrived,  and  your  garments  are  folded  up, 
and  the  sun  grows  dim,  the  elements  grow  thick,  and 
the  earth  reels  and  trembles,  and  then  opens  to  re- 
ceive you  !  My  brethren,  I  deny  not  the  possibility 
of  a  saving  repentance  upon  the  bed  of  death ;  far, 
very  far  be  it  from  me  to  limit  either  the  power  or 
the  mercy  of  God.  Yea,  I  believe  in  that  charity 
that  hopetli  all  things.  I  believe,  and  I  rejoice  in 
believing,  that  very  many  whose  professions  of  peni- 
tence were  only  made  in  that  last  and  solemn  hour, 
are  now  numbered  with  the  blest.  Yea,  my  breth- 
ren, I  do  believe  that  even  when  the  strength  of  the 
body  has  been  palsied,  and  no  utterance  is  given  to 
the  tongue,  and  the  mind  seems  to  be  wrapped  in 
stupor  and  darkness,  that  even  then  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  over-working  presence  of  God  may  be 
fresher  than  it  ever  was,  and  while  the  senses  are 
locked  up  to  all  outward  impressions,  that  the  re- 
novating work  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  may  be  going 
on  within.  Yea,  my  brethren,  I  glory  in  believing 
that  the  same  Almighty  power  and  mercy  that 
could  release  Lazarus  of  old  from  the  chains  of 
death,  can  also  release  the  sinner  from  the  chains  of 
the  prince  of  evil  ones  at  the  xery  moment  that  he 
trembles  on  the  brink  of  eternity !     I  believe  that 


Repentance.  267 

He  who  earned  the  spirit  of  the  penitent  thief  trium- 
phantly to  Paradise  will  also  bear  away  in  triumph 
the  spirit  of  every  penitent  sinner,  no  matter  liow 
late  he  turns  to  Him  for  reconciliation  and  safety, 
provided  that  He  who  knows  the  heart  better  than 
the  world  can  ever  know  it,  provided  that  He  per- 
ceived the  penitence  to  be  sincere  and  the  faith  to 
be  full  and  humble  !  But  while  I  am  thus  far  from 
denying  the  possibility  of  a  polluted  soul  being 
washed  in  the  waters  of  life  in  the  very  last  hours 
of  its  trial,  yet  am  I  persuaded  there  never  was  a 
deathbed  penitent  who,  if  his  cry  could  have  been 
heard  over  the  world,  would  not  have  admonished 
his  fellows,  by  all  that  was  entrancing  in  the  hope  of 
immortal  life,  not  to  presume  upon  the  continuance 
of  time,  nor  to  put  off  the  work  of  repentance  for 
the  seasons  of  sickness  and  death. 

My  brethren,  have  you  ever  stood  by  the  bedside 
of  the  dying  man,  and  marked  his  emaciated  frame, 
and  his  pale  and  livid  face  ;  the  most  active  energies, 
how  powerless  ;  the  fires  of  the  brightest  genius,  how 
clouded  ;  and  failing  reason  waxing  dim  and  fitful, 
like  the  wasted  taper  flickering  in  its  socket — when 
the  only  eftbrt  and  anxiety  is  to  allay  the  remaining 
pangs  of  death,  which  are  now  coming  hard  and  fast 
upon  him.  Oh  !  is  this  the  time,  amid  the  throes 
of  expirin;-  nature,  when  the  strength  of  the  body  is 
gone,  and  the  energies  are  gone,  and  when  he  has 
only  the  dregs  and  lees  of  a  guilty  life  to  offer — is 
this  the  time  f  )i-  him  to  begin  to  work  out  his  salva- 
tion ?     Is  this  the  time  for  him  to  begin  the  great 


268  Hepenta/nce. 

work  of  self-examination,  and  for  memory's  weeping 
eye  to  linger  npon  the  darli  catalogue  of  his  sins  ? 
Is  this  the  time  for  him  to  begin  to  ask  for  the  aid 
of  the  Divine  grace  to  enable  him  to  burst  through 
the  chains  of  evil  habits  made  strong  by  time,  and 
to  bi-eak  away  from  the  iron  gi-asp  of  the  tyrant  who, 
with  active  and  jealous  vigilance,  has  watched  him  as 
his  devoted  prey  ?  Oh  no  !  the  hour  of  death,  in 
which  all  the  consoling  lights  of  religion  and  all  the 
strength  of  faith  are  necessary  to  support  the  soul 
against  the  doubts,  fears,  and  anguish  that  oppress 
it,  is  not  the  time  to  begin  to  seek,  in  utter  darkness 
and  ignorance,  for  the  rod  and  the  staff  of  God,  on 
which  we  must  lean  for  support  as  we  pass  through 
the  dark  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death.  My  friends, 
we  may  turn  from  all  these  powerful  motives  ;  we 
may  resist  all  of  these  subduing  considerations,  and, 
absorbed  with  the  business  or  bewildered  amid  the 
fascinations  of  the  world,  \ve  may  think  little  of  eter- 
nity and  less  of  the  sins  that  degrade  us  ;  but  it  is 
still  the  emphatic  declaration  of  the  Saviour,  that 
unless  we  repent,  we  shall  perish  !  If,  then, 
amid  all  the  smothering  influences  that  press  upon 
us,  there  be  yet  left  one  spark  of  piety  in  these  cold 
hearts  of  ours,  let  us  at  least  resolve  to  watcli  it,  as 
that  by  wliich  alone  we  can  be  lighted  to  the  courts 
of  Heaven.  Let  us  guard  it,  feed  it,  and  strive  to 
kindle  it  to  a  brighter,  steadier,  and  holier  flame. 
And  let  us  keep  alive  the  alarming  conviction  that 
if  that  spark  ever  expires,  we  die  ! 


THE  PRODIGAL  SON. 


'  Father,  I  have  sinned  against  Heaven,  and  before  thecy 

Luke  \Uh,  18th. 

OW  delightful  is  the  illustration  our  Lord 
has  given  us  of  the  Divine  mercy  to  guilty 
mortals,  in  the  beautiful  parable  of  the 
''Prodigal  Son  !  " 
How  consoling  is  it  to  know,  that  our  Heavenly 


Father  regards  His  frail  and 


erring  creatures  with 


all  of  a  parent's  tenderness  and  love  ;  that  He  is 
always  anxious  to  recall  them  to  obedience  and  hap- 
piness— always  ready  to  pardon  and  to  bless  them  ! 

My  brethren,  we  can  never  think  too  highly  of 
the  redeeming  love  and  unfailing  mercy  of  our  God  ; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  we  must  steadily  remember 
that  Christ  has  given  us  this  affecting  display  of  His 
tenderness  to  encourage  us  to  repentance,  as  well  as 
to  touch  our  hearts  and  conciliate  our  love.  While, 
then,  we  dwell  with  rapture  upon  the  tenderness  of 
the  Parent  who  forgives,  we  must  never  forget  to 
identify  ourselves  with  the  humiliation  and  the  peni- 
tence of  the  son  who  is  forgiven. 

By  the  elder  and  the  younger  sons  our  Lord  de- 


270  The  Prodigal  Son. 

signed  to  represent  tlie  Jeav  and  the  Gentile,  and 
to  expose  the  malignant  jealousy  which  the  Phari- 
sees had  evinced,  because  God,  the  equal  Father  of 
all,  had  shown  His  readiness  to  receive  the  prodigal 
bnt  penitent  Gentiles  to  His  everlasting  favor. 

The  great  truth  with  which  I  am  anxious  to  im- 
press you  from  this  portion  of  Scripture  is  this,  that 
while  there  are  none  of  us  whose  sins  do  not  so  far 
resemble  those  of  the  prodigal  son  as  to  call  for  deep 
humiliation  and  heartfelt  repentance,  there  is,  at  the 
same  time,  no  human  being  so  vile  and  abandoned 
but  that,  if  he  will  sincerely  return,  he  will  find  his 
Heavenly  Father  all-merciful  to  pardon,  and  all- 
powerful  to  save. 

These  truths,  so  important  to  human  salvation 
and  so  delightful  to  the  dearest  hopes  of  man,  are 
beautifully  illustrated  by  our  Lord  under  the  fictitious 
character  of  the  ungrateful  child  of  a  doting  parent's 
love.  The  younger  son  of  a  tender  father,  impatient 
under  the  wholesome  restraints  of  parental  authority, 
spurning  the  endearment  of  parental  affection,  closing 
his  ears  and  steeling  his  heart  against  the  warnings 
of  parental  love,  and  renouncing  all  confidence  in  his 
father's  wisdom  as  his  guide  to  happiness,  launched 
impetuously  upon  the  world's  wide  sea,  a  heedless 
wanderer  from  the  home  of  his  friends.  Under  his 
restless  sense  of  independence  he  rushes  upon  ev^ery 
pleasure,  however  gross,  and  upon  every  form  of  vice, 
however  revolting ;  plunging  from  excess  to  excess, 
and  hurrying  from  crime  to  crime,  until  time,  prop- 
erty, constitution,  character,  are  all  sacrificed  at  the 


The  Prodigal  Son.  271 

shrine  of  folly  and  of  guilt.  "  He  began  to  be  in 
want,"  but  still  he  thinks  not  of  repentance ;  he  is  not 
yet  awakened  to  a  sense  of  his  crimes ;  he  cares  not 
to  think  of  the  true  source  and  nature  of  his  misery,  nor 
does  he  yet  think  of  an  humble  confession  of  his  errors, 
nor  of  returning  to  his  forgiving  parent.  He  was  still 
confiding  in  his  own  wisdom  and  his  own  strength, 
and  he  "  went  and  hired  himself  to  a  citizen  of  that 
country."  But  there  was  a  miglity  famine  in  the 
land,  and  he  would  fain  liave  tilled  himself  with  the 
"  husks  that  the  swine  did  eat."  What  a  close  to  a 
career  whose  dawn  was  heightened  by  hope,  and 
whose  meridian  sun  beamed  to  ripen  a  harvest  of 
joy !  Where  are  now  the  companions  of  his  unhal- 
lowed hours  ?  Where  are  the  boisterous  friends  of 
his  days  of  prosperity  and  riot?  Alas!  some  are 
sunk  in  wretchedness  equal  to  his  own,  and  some 
are  false  and  shy  when  they  can  no  longer  feed  upon 
his  prodigality.  He  is  rejected  and  forsaken  of  all ; 
"  no  man  gave  unto  him."  He  is  reduced  to  the  last 
stage  of  human  misery — to  the  last  and  lowest  depth 
of  wretchedness  and  despair.  Oh  !  I  can  fancy  that 
I  see  him  in  this  state  of  joyless,  hopeless  desertion, 
with  the  terrors  of  a  horrible  and  lingering  death 
before  him.  I  can  see  him  prostrate  in  feebleness 
upon  the  earth,  with  dishevelled  l5cks  and  garments 
tattered,  with  no  covering  from  the  warring  elements, 
while  the  tempest  rages  and  the  lightning  glares  and 
falls  around  him,  as  the  ragged  and  destroying  mes- 
senger of  an  angrj'  Clod  !  I  can  now  fancy  that  I 
hear  him,  from  this  condition  of  abject  and  terrific 


272  The  Prodigal  Son. 

liuinility,  crying  out  under  the  stings  of  remorse,  ''I 
liave  sinned  against  the  Lord  !  "  "I  will  arise  and  go 
unto  myfjither,  and  will  say  unto  him,  Father,  I  have 
sinned  against  heaven,  and  before  thee,  and  am  no 
more  worthy  to  be  called  thy  son  ;"  receive  me.  Oh  ! 
receive  me  as  a  profligate  and  an  hireling !  My 
brethren,  in  the  expressive  words  of  Scripture,  he 
"had  come  to  himself;"  earthly  disappointment  and 
earthly  wretchedness  had  brought  him  to  a  sense  of 
his  real  guilt  and  misery — to  a  wise  and  deep  con- 
viction of  his  self-abasement;  and  it  was  not  until 
then  that  he  was  led  to  acknowledge  his  errors  and 
to  fly  for  refuge  to  his  father's  merc3%  It  was  not 
until  then  that  he  felt  sincerely  that  no  degradation 
was  too  low,  no  office  too  humble,  by  which  he  might 
testify  his  contrition  for  the  past,  and  his  anxious 
desire  to  render  obedience  to  his  father's  will ! 

Such  were  the  sins,  and  such  was  the  repentance 
of  the  prodigal  son.  His  return,  you  know,  created 
joy  throughout  the  paternal  domain.  He  was  speed- 
ily clothed  wnth  the  richest  robe,  he  was  enfolded  in 
the  arms  and  reposed  in  the  bosom  of liis  father! 

The  moral,  brethren,  of  the  beautiful  story  is  this  : 
that  if  we  too  will  but  feel  and  confess  our  errors  ;  if 
we  too  will  abandon  all  hope  of  redemption  and  safety 
by  our  own  wisdom  and  strength — if  we  too  will  but 
come  in  humility  to  the  footstool  of  our  Father  and 
pray  for  acceptance  through  His  mercy  in  Christ, 
there  will  for  us  too  be  joy  throughout  the  celestial 
home  of  the  just — we  too  shall  be  clothed  with  the 
rich  robe  of  the  Redeemer's  ric-hteousness— we  too 


The  Prodigal  Son.  273 

shall  be  folded  in  the  arms  and  repose  for  wasteless 
ages  on  the  bosom  of  our  Father  and  onr  God! 

And  in  proceeding  with  our  remarks  npon  the 
first  truth  which  the  parable  was  designed  to  teach — 
that  there  are  none  of  us  whose  offences  do  not  so 
far  resemble  those  of  the  prodigal  son  as  to  call  for 
deep  humiliation  and  heartfelt  repentance — I  must 
entreat  you  to  remember  that  the  particular  mode  of 
guilt  manifested  by  the  prodigal  is  not  by  any  means 
the  only  mode  by  which  the  criminal  temper  that 
actuated  his  conduct  can  display  itself.  We  are  not 
by  any  means  to  confine  the  application  of  the  par- 
able to  him  who  wastes  his  substance  in  riotous  liv- 
ing— who  abandons  himself  to  profligate  courses  and 
lawless  sensuality.  His  guilt  originated  in  a  spirit 
of  disobedience  to  his  Heavenly  Father's  rule,  and 
in  the  alienation  of  his  heart  from  His  service. 
And  every  human  being  in  whom  the  same  spirit 
prevails  partakes  of  his  guilt,  and  will  be  exposed 
to  his  miser3^  It  is,  then,  for  him  who  spurns  the 
control  of  Heaven's  law,  shakes  off  the  restraints  of 
religion  as  rigorous  and  irksome,  and  places  happi- 
ness in  following  the  unchecked  and  fickle  impulses 
of  his  own  undisciplined  will,  and  in  the  unbridled 
indulgence  of  his  own  degraded  passions — it  is  for 
him  to  see  how  exactly  he  corresponds  with  the  char- 
acter of  the  prodigal,  who  broke  away  from  parental 
control  only  that  he  might  follow  his  self-directed 
judgment,  and  give  scope  to  every  evil  impulse  of  his 
evil  nature.  If,  my  brethren,  it  ever  happens  in 
this  life  that  instances  of  filial  disobedience  and  in- 

12* 


274  The  Prodigal  Son. 

gratitude  are  brought  to  oui-  view — instances  in 
whicli  all  tlie  demonstrations  of  parental  affection 
are  received  with  cold  insensibility — where  the  most 
munificent  favors  of  parental  love  fall  upon  a  thank- 
less heart — where  the  child  scorns  and  rejects  the 
parent  whose  unfailing  love  and  w^eariless  exertion 
has  nurtured  and  protected  his  worthless  infancy, 
and  by  whose  bounty  he  now  subsists — where  all  fil- 
ial reverence  is  utterly  forgotten,  and  the  counsels, 
commands,  and  simple  wishes  of  the  parent  are  alike 
trampled  on  and  despised,  would  we  not  draw  back 
in  shuddering  horror  from  such  a  revolting  monster 
of  ingratitude  and  guilt  ?  It  is,  then,  for  him  who 
regards  with  utter  insensibility  all  of  the  munificent 
displays  of  God's  love  in  the  ceaseless  bounties  of 
nature  and  rich  dispensations  of  grace — whose  heart 
and  affections  are  not  given,  in  the  meekness  of  a 
little  child's  love,  to  his  Father  in  Heaven,  but 
rather  to  the  base,  sordid,  frivolous,  worthless,  per- 
ishable objects  of  the  god  of  tliis  world — who  lets 
day  after  day  and  year  after  jear  roll  on  without 
once  lifting  up  his  heart  in  grateful  thanksgiving 
to  the  Father  whose  sleepless  bounty  gives  him 
richly  all  tilings  to  enjoy,  and  who  rebels  with  prond 
disdain  against  every  law  by  wliich  that  Father  would 
check  his  downward  course  of  degradation  and  de- 
struction, and  every  ordinance  and  contrivance  of 
love  by  which  He  would  lead  him  back  to  submission. 
Oh  !  it  is  for  you  to  consider  whether  every  form  of 
ino-ratitude  to  be  met  with  on  earth — whether  the 
guilt  of  the  prodigal  son  be  not  equally  conspicu- 


TU  Prodigal  Son.  275 

ous  in  him  who,  although  the  child  of  God,  yet  lives 
without  God  in  the  world ;  forgetful  of  His  being 
and  His  works ;  thankless  for  His  favors,  regardless 
of  His  laws,  and  disobedient  to  His  will.  Again, 
my  brethren,  if  a  child  were  to  receive  from  his 
father  the  title-deeds,  written  with  his  own  hand, 
by  which  the  child  was  to  establish  his  claim  to 
an  inestimable  inheritance ;  and  if  the  document 
contained  not  only  the  proofs  of  his  right,  but  the 
conditions  upon  which  he  was  to  obtain  it,  and  the 
rules  and  counsels  by  which  his  life  was  to  be  regu- 
lated, so  as  to  be  able  to  fulfil  those  conditions  ;  and 
if  this  object  of  his  parent's  solicitude  were  to  con- 
tinue so  utterly  and  incorrigibly  heedless  as  never  to 
read  this  writing  of  inestimable  worth — never,  per- 
haps, to  open  this  document  upon  which  his  all  de- 
pended— but  to  go  on  in  unthinking  neglect  of  every 
condition  and  in  open  violation  of  every  rule  upon 
which  the  security  of  his  inheritance  was  suspended ; 
could  he  expect  any  other  fate  than  to  be  cut  oif  in 
his  senseless  negligence  and  rebellion,  and  be  left  to 
irretrievable  wretchedness  and  ruin  ?  And  now,  tell 
me,  have  not  each  of  you  received  from  your  Heav- 
enly Father  the  depository  of  His  will,  the  charter 
of  your  immortal  inheritance,  the  guide  of  your  re- 
ligious duties,  the  rule  of  your  life,  and  the  founda- 
tion of  your  eternal  hopes  ?  Has  it  not  been  written 
with  His  hand,  and  sealed  with  the  blood  of  the  only 
and  almighty  Saviour  of  dying  men?  And  now, 
tell  me,  has  this  charter  secured  your  reverence — has 
it  been  faithfully  studied — have  you  submitted  to  its 


276  The  Prodigal  Son. 

teachings — is  it  the  rule  of  your  practice — do  you 
make  it  the  standard  of  right  in  life,  and  the  liglit 
of  hope  and  confidence  in  the  coming  darkness  of 
death  ?  If  nothing  of  this  be  true,  what  else  can 
you  expect  than  to  be  shut  out  in  your  hour  of  des- 
titution and  woe  from  the  glorious  inheritance  which 
you  now  so  proudly,  wickedly,  slothfully,  senselessly, 
madly  disdain  to  secure  ? 

But  again.  If  a  father  of  boundless  resourses 
were  to  tell  the  child  of  his  overflowing  love  that 
if  he  would  but  approach  his  presence  and  open 
his  heart  in  unlimited  and  confiding  trust,  his 
wants  should  be  all  supplied,  his  ignorance  instruct- 
ed, and  his  perplexities  removed  ;  if  he  was  repeat- 
edly told  that,  no  matter  how  dark  and  serious 
might  be  the  extremity  to  which  he  should  be  re- 
duced, if  he  would  but  ask  he  should  receive — if 
he  would  but  knock,  "  my  heart  and  my  door  shall 
be  ever  open  unto  you  " — yet  this  child,  although 
sinking  under  want  and  feebleness,  and  distracted 
with  ignorance  and  doubt,  never  resorts  to  his  pa- 
rent for  relief  or  instruction,  but  is  ruinously  re- 
solved, in  his  self-sufiicient  and  blighting  pride,  to  live 
or  die  in  his  own  wisdom  and  his  own  strenorth, 
and  therefore  rejects  day  by  day  the  pressing  invita- 
tions of  parental  solicitude,  never  draws  near  his 
father's  presence,  and  never  returns  the  coldest  ac- 
knowledgments for  his  multiplied  favoi's, — what 
could  such  a  child  expect  but  tliat,  being  permitted 
to  follow  the  counsels  of  his  own  heart,  and  to  reap 
the  fruit  of  his  own  ways,  he  should  be  left  to  perish 
in  his  own  devices  ! 


The  Prodigal  Son.  277 

My  brethren,  I  write  no  explanation  of  this  pic- 
ture. There  is  no  heart  amongst  you  that  will  not 
apply  it  for  itself.  It  is  enough  that  I  remind  you 
that  you  too  have  been  most  tenderly  invited  "  in  all 
things  to  make  known  your  requests  "  unto  your  Heav- 
enly Father ;  and  "  whatsoever  ye  ask  in  My  name," 
said  the  Lord  of  your  life,  "  I  will  give  it  you."  Now 
if  it  be  so,  that  instead  of  living  in  communion 
and  confiding  intercourse  with  your  God,  and  letting 
a  spirit  of  faith-inspiring  prayer  consecrate  every 
da}''  of  your  lives  to  humility  and  religious  vigi- 
lance, you  are  actually  living  like  the  base  brutes 
that  perish,  never  lifting  up  your  heart  from  grovel- 
ling upon  this  earth,  thankless  for  mercies,  and  fear- 
less of  judgments,  you  drudge  on  like  soulless  slaves 
of  worldly  cares  and  fading  appetites,  then  tell  me, 
what  catastrophe  can  be  too  serious  for  conduct  so 
rebellious  and  undutiful,  for  hearts  so  callous,  so 
proud,  so  obstinate,  so  dead  to  filial  piety  and  love, 
so  absolutely  debased  and  brutally  incorrigible  ? 

Oh  !  wait  not,  my  brethren,  until  the  heavj^  hand 
of  God  shall  fall  upon  you  in  anger  before  you 
rouse  yourself  sufficiently  to  turn  from  a  course 
which  must  terminate  in  eternal  ruin  !  Wait  not, 
like  the  prodigal  son,  until  the  accumulated  wretch- 
edness of  earth,  until  the  fading  away  of  all  your 
earthly  hopes,  shall  leave  you  nothing  to  enjoy  be- 
fore you  confess  the  folly  and  misery  of  having 
weaned  your  heart  from  its  Creator's  love,  and 
sought  to  fly  from  His  presence. 

Humiliating  is  the  thought  that  there  are  hearts 


278  The  Prodigal  Son. 

around  us  whom  nothing  but  the  bitterness  of  sor- 
row can  soften,  and  nothing  but  the  beating  storms 
of  calamity  can  awaken  to  a  sense  of  their  ingrati- 
tude and  guilt.  And  dreadful  must  be  the  condi- 
tion from  which  it  is  a  visitation  of  mercy  to  be 
rescued  even  by  the  severest  sufferings. 

My  brethren,  disregard  not  my  feeble  voice  of 
faithful  warning,  when  I  tell  you  to  trust  not  to 
youth  and  strength, — trust  not  to  the  prosperous 
scenes  that  may  now  smile  upon  you.  Think  not 
that  your  house  is  so  strong  that  it  can  never  be 
moved  ;  let  but  the  storm  of  crushing  calamity  burst 
upon  you  suddenly,  let  but  the  cold  hand  of  dis- 
ease, as  the  harbinger  of  death,  be  laid  upon  you,  and 
you  will  then  feel  that  all  of  your  eager  graspings  after 
wealth,  and  all  of  your  thirst  for  the  power,  fame, 
pomp,  and  dignitj^  of  tlie  world  are  as  unsatisfying 
to  the  immortal  mind  as  the  worthless  husks  with 
which  the  wretched  prodigal  would  have  appeased 
the  cravings  of  famine. 

But  I  must  hasten  to  my  conclusion  by  just 
drawing  your  attention  to  the  second  lesson,  to  which 
we  have  alluded  as  being  so  beautifully  and  emphat- 
ically taught  in  our  parable.  It  is  this  :  that  there  is 
no  human  being  so  vile  and  abandoned  but  that,  if 
he  will  sincerely  retui'n  in  penitence  and  faith,  he 
will  Und  his  Heavenly  Father  all-merciful  to  pardon 
and  all-powerful  to  save.  Let  but  the  penitent  soul 
who  feels,  like  the  prodigal,  that  he  is  perishing  while 
absent  from  his  Father's  home ;  that  he  is  suffering 
under  an  absolute  destitution  of  all  real  good,  and 


The  Prodigal  Son.  2Y9 

that  none  but  his  Heavenly  Father  can  supply  his 
wants ;  and  then  let  him  remember  that  the  prodi- 
gal neither  lingered  nor  tarried,  bnt  "  arose  and 
went  to  his  father,"  with  the  cry  of  humility  upon 
his  lips  ;  and  then  let  him  lift  up  his  heart  with  the 
same  meekness,  and  he  too  may  be  assured  that  his 
prayer  will  not  be  rejected.  lie  too  will  be  seen  and 
hailed  with  joyous  welcome,  "  while  yet  a  gi-eat  way 
off."  Yes,  it  has  well  been  said,  that  although  mil- 
lions of  worlds  intervene  between  the  throne  of  our 
Father  and  this  dim  and  distant  speck  of  earth, 
yet  even  here,  even  now,  the  eye  of  His  love  dis- 
cerns the  first  movement  of  every  returning  penitent. 
He  marks  every  tear  that  moistens  the  check  of  self- 
accusing  guilt.  He  numbers  every  sigh  that  bursts 
from  the  self-accusing  heart.  He  meets  him  on  the 
way,  embraces  him  in  the  arms  of  His  mercy,  whis- 
pers comfort  and  consolation,  continues  to  impart 
strength  proportionate  to  his  need,  and  instruction 
according  to  his  ignorance  ;  until,  restored  to  the  full 
dignity  and  privileges  of  the  children  of  God,  He 
presents  him  to  the  rejoicing  hosts  of  heaven  as  His 
son,  who  "  was  dead  but  is  alive  again,  who  was  lost 
but  is  found  !  " 

Come  then,  and  let  us,  with  the  promptness  of  the 
prodigal,  arise  and  go  to  our  Father,  and  lay  before 
Him  the  pollutions  of  our  hearts  and  the  offences  of 
our  hands.  Let  us  call  up  to  recollection  each  vio- 
lated law,  each  mercy,  each  despised  warning,  each 
broken  resolution,  and  each  inexcusable  relapse ; 
and  as  your  sense  of  unworthiness  increases,  so  will 


280  The  Prodigal  Son. 

your  abhorrence  of  guilt  be  increased,  and  your  reso- 
lutions of  amendment  be  confirmed.  As  your  self- 
conviction  is  sharpened,  so  much  the  more  precious 
will  the  message  of  mercy  appear,  as  it  is  delivered 
by  the  ministry  of  reconciliation,  saying,  that "  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners  " — to 
purchase  pardon  for  the  guilty — righteousness  for 
the  ungodly — redemption  for  the  ruined — salvation 
for  the  lost.  The  most  abandoned  are  alike  war- 
ranted and  alike  welcome  to  come  to  Him  for  a  free, 
full,  and  everlasting  salvation  !  The  penitent  Mag- 
dalen and  the  pious  Mary  are  alike  welcome  to  sit 
at  His  feet,  and  hear  from  His  lips  the  words  of  eter- 
nal life. 

My  brethren,  I  speak  to  sinful  men,  and  I  conjure 
you  to  wait  not  until  you  have  made  yourselves 
purer  and  better  before  you  come  to  Christ  for  sal- 
vation ;  begin  the  work  by  accepting  Him  for  your 
Saviour,  and  coming  to  Him  for  pardon ;  and  then 
will  you  be  justified  by  faith — then  will  you  be 
roused  by  vigilance — and  then  will  you  be  strength- 
ened for  conflict — then  will  you  be  renewed  unto 
holiness  !  Yea  !  you  will  then  be  sanctified  by  His 
spirit,  and  saved  with  His  own  everlasting  salvation  ! 


SELF-DENIAL. 

'  If  any  man  will  come  after  Me,  let  Mm  deny  himself,  and  take  up 
his  cross,  and  follow  Me." 

Matthew,  16t7i,  Mth. 

\^  the  time  of  our  Saviour  the  phrase  to 
"  take  up  the  cross  "  was  used  as  a  pro- 
verb, to  denote  submission  to  great  suflPer- 
ing. 

Crucifixion  was  a  common  and  most  ignominious 
mode  of  execution ;  and  as  the  criminal  was  always 
made  to  carry  his  own  instrument  of  torture,  so,  in 
common  language,  to  "  take  up  one's  cross  "  was  used 
to  denote  preparation  and  readiness  to  submit  to 
sorrow  and  shame. 

In  the  text,  our  Lord  meant  to  say  that  no  man 
was  worthy  to  become  His  disciple  who  had  not  a 
conviction  so  deep  and  abiding  of  the  truth  and  ever- 
lasting importance  of  his  religion,  that  he  would  be 
ready  to  endure  every  temporal  sacrifice,  and  subject 
himself  to  scorn  and  to  death  itself  in  its  defence. 

We  know  that  this  saying  of  our  Lord,  for  the 
want  of  wise  caution,  has  led  men  to  pernicious  error, 
and  filled  the  earth  with  blighting  examples  of  self- 


282  Self-denial. 

sacrifice  in  senseless  austerities,  and  a  worse  than  use- 
less abstraction  from  the  duties  and  cares  of  active 
life. 

My  simple  object  this  morning  will  be  to  inquire, 
in  the  exercise  of  a  sober  judgment,  into  the  just  limits 
of  Christian  self-denial ;  and  in  the  course  of  my  re- 
marks I  shall  study  to  show  you  how  entirely  every 
precept  and  every  requirement  of  the  Scriptures  upon 
this  point  is  in  keeping  with  the  universal  teaching 
of  nature,  wherever  the  intellectual  and  moral 
powers  of  man  have  been  elevated  above  the  low 
and  brutal  passions  of  his  nature,  "  Whosoever  will 
come  after  Me,  let  him  deny  himself,  and  take  up 
his  cross,  and  follow  Me."  Did  our  Lord  mean  to 
say  that  every  one,  throughout  all  time,  who  would 
become  a  disciple  of  His  should  evince  the  sincerity 
of  his  faith  by  seeking  martyrdom,  and  prove  his 
loyalty  to  duty  by  denying  himself  every  gratifica- 
tion that  can  be  won  from  the  powers  and  instincts 
of  his  nature,  and  that  he  was  to  subject  himself  to 
perpetual  and  voluntary  torture  ?  Surely  not.  No 
idea  can  be  more  pernicious,  and  none  more  false, 
than  to  suppose  that  God  would  require  self-destruc- 
tion from  His  creatures,  or  the  destruction  of  any  pas- 
sion or  principle  which  He  has  Himself  implanted. 

Our  nature  is  beautifully  and  wonderfully  con- 
trived. It  is  most  perfect  and  most  admirable  when 
left  just  as  God  has  formed  it. 

"  Our  nature,"  it  has  well  been  said,  "  is  a  whole, 
and  a  beautiful  whole,  and  no  part  can  be  spared. 
You  might  as  properly  and  as  innocently  lop  off  a 


Self-denial.  283 

limb  from  the  body  as  eradicate  any  natural  desire 
from  the  mind.  All  our  appetites  are  in  themselves 
innocent  and  useful,  and  ministering  to  the  general 
weal  of  the  soul.  They  are,  like  the  elements  of  the 
natural  world,  part;  of  a  wise  and  beneficent  system  ; 
but,  like  those  elements,  they  are  beneficent  only 
when  restrained." 

The  self-sacrifice,  then,  of  which  our  Lord  speaks 
has  reference  to  the  appetites  and  feelings  which  we 
have  in  common  with  the  inferior  animals,  and  to 
the  exercise  of  our  higher  powers  in  connection  with 
this  world,  and  this  world  only.  In  these  things  we 
are  to  exercise  a  most  vigilant  and  habitual  self-con- 
trol. We  are  not,  you  will  observe,  to  labor  for  their 
extermination,  but  rather  to  hold  them  in  strict  sub- 
ordination to  the  high  laws  of  reason  and  religion. 
That  these  qualities  of  our  animal  nature,  which  we 
possess  in  common  with  the  inferior  orders  of  exist- 
ence, have  need  of  control  and  restraint,  will  be  ap- 
parent when  we  reflect  that  they  are  no  more  than 
blind  impulses  ;  merely  undiscerning  instincts  which 
will  clamor  for  incessant  gratification,  although  it  be 
to  impair  soundness  and  health,  enfeeble  the  intellect, 
and  widely  diffuse  wretchedness  and  ruin.  In  tlie 
blindness  of  desire  we  hunger  and  thirst  for  what  is 
injurious  as  well  as  for  what  is  wholesome,  and  unless 
the  nobler  powers  be  perpetually  exerted  to  control 
they  will  themselves  become  enslaved,  and  soon  lend 
their  energies  to  base  purposes  of  degradation. 

My  brethren,  there  is  truth  and  eloquence  in  the 
declaration,  "  that  the  very  nobleness  of  human  nature 


284  Self-denial. 

may  become  tlie  means  and  instrument  of  its  ruin. 
The  powers  which  ally  us  to  God,  when  passed  into 
the  service  of  desire  and  appetite,  enlarge  desire  into 
monstrous  excess,  and  irritate  appetite  into  fury.  The 
rapidity  of  thought,  the  richness  of  imagination,  the 
resources  of  invention,  when  enslaved  to  any  passion, 
give  it  an  extent  and  energy  unknown  to  inferior 
natures.  And  just  in  proportion  as  this  usurper 
establishes  his  empire  over  us,  all  the  nobler  attain- 
ments and  products  of  the  soul  perish.  Truth,  honor, 
virtue,  religion,  hope,  faith,  charity  die !  Here  we 
must  see  that  the  need  of  self-denial  is  urgent  and 
continual.  The  lower  principles  of  our  nature  not 
only  act  blindly,  but,  if  neglected,  they  grow  inde- 
finitely, overshadow,  blight,  and  destroy  every  better 
growth.  Without  self-restraint  and  self-sacrifice  the 
proportion,  order,  and  harmony  of  the  spiritual  nature 
are  subverted,  and  the  soul  becomes  as  monstrous  and 
deformed  as  the  body  would  become  if  all  nutriment 
were  to  flow  into  a  few  organs,  and  they  the  least 
valuable,  and  then  to  break  out  into  loathsome  ex- 
crescences ;  whilst  the  eye,  the  ear,  and  the  active 
limbs  should  pine  and  be  palsied,  and  thus  leave  us 
without  guidance  or  power." 

Ah !  my  brethren,  the  struggle  between  reason 
and  passion,  between  conscience  enlightened  by 
religion  and  the  temptations  of  the  world  and  the 
devil,  is  a  fearful  struggle,  and  never  can  we  escape 
from  it  while  this  life  lasts.  But  then  God  has  pro- 
portioned our  strength  to  our  need  ;  and  if  thousands 
perish  in  the  conflict,  and  sink  ingloriously  into  the 


Self-denial.  285 

dark  gulf  of  ruin,  yet  it  is  only  because  they  have 
yielded  in  ignominous  sloth,  and  in  a  dastardly  deser- 
tion of  duty.  It  is  only  because,  in  craven  timidity, 
they  have  utterly  failed  to  employ  the  powers  and 
instruments  of  victory  with  which  God  has  most 
graciously  armed  them. 

My  brethren,  how  mournful  and  saddening  is  it 
to  cast  our  eyes  around  upon  the  wrecks  of  intellect 
and  moral  power  with  which  this  earth  is  covered ! 
But,  thanks  be  to  God,  we  can  at  the  same  time  turn 
to  the  bright  examples  furnished  by  all  time  of  men 
who,  amid  the  fiercest  assaults  of  temptation,  from 
their  own  passions  and  from  the  allurements  of 
a  world  steeped  in  guilt,  have  yet  never  faltered 
in  their  allegiance  to  conscience,  to  duty,  and  to 
God! 

If  at  times,  in  the  wanderings  of  imagination,  I 
fancy  that  I  can  see  and  hear  the  dark  throng  of 
wretched  victims  who  wander  in  hopeless  anguish 
through  the  gloomy  regions  of  desj)air,  yet  am  I 
quickly  cheered  by  the  glorious  array  of  spirits 
clothed  in  light  who  have  been  tempted  and  tried 
as  we  are,  and  who  have  all  passed  through  the  same 
ceaseless  warfare  with  the  passions,  but  who,  in  the 
strength  to  be  won  by  prayer,  have  denied  and  sub- 
dued themselves,  and  by  the  stern  sacrifice  of  all  low 
and  seducing  interests  have  fairly  won  their  crowns 
of  immortality  !  I  can  then  no  longer  yield  to  gloo- 
my and  desponding  thoughts — I  will  no  longer  com- 
plain of  the  Creator,  nor  murmur  because  of  the  frail 
nature  He  has  given  me.     I  no  longer  repine  that 


286  Self-denial. 

mj  lot  is  cast  amid  trials  to  virtue,  amid  perils  and 
obstructions  to  righteousness  wliicli  render  the  path 
of  duty  "  a  narrow  way."  I  see  a  light  thrown  over 
our  present  condition  of  existence  which  more  than 
reconciles  me  to  all  its  evils.  I  see,  indeed,  a  wide 
iield  of  conflict  spread  before  me,  and  I  kno^v  that 
the  enemies  with  which  I  must  contend  are  subtle 
and  insidious  beyond  all  calculation,  and  deadly  in 
their  triumph !  But  I  would  not  change  these  ap- 
pointments. I  would  not  escape  from  the  conflict 
before  me  while  in  the  world,  even  if  I  could.  I 
stop  not  to  inquire  why  God  has  made  me  thus,  or 
why  He  has  placed  me  here.  It  is  enough  that  I 
can  easily  and  fondly  reconcile  this  constitution  of 
things  with  the  Divine  goodness.  I  look  at  the  illus- 
trious examples  of  triumphant  virtue  with  which  the 
history  of  our  race  is  rich,  and  whose  memories,  wa- 
tered by  the  tears  of  admiration  and  reverence,  will 
grow  and  flourish  throughout  all  ages.  I  think  of 
the  glorious  orders  of  the  redeemed  in  Heaven,  who 
now  wear  in  wasteless  bliss  the  crowns  they  won  in 
conflict.  I  think  of  these,  and  learn  to  rejoice  that 
God  has  placed  me  in  a  school  so  noble,  and  so  ad- 
mirably adapted  for  the  formation  of  that  character 
which  it  would  seem  can  only  be  produced  amid 
temptation  and  self-denying  trial. 

You  perceive  then,  my  brethren,  that  the  self- 
sacriflce  to  wliich  the  text  calls  us  does  not  mean 
that  we  shall,  with  a  capricious  and  ungrateful  fancy, 
refuse  to  use  and  enjoy  with  a  rational  and  enlight- 
ened freedom  the  good  which  God  has  created  this 


Self-denial.  287 

earth  to  yield  us  ;  but  that  we  should  steadily  toil 
and  pray  so  to  employ  the  higher,  nobler,  and  all- 
directing  faculties  of  our  nature  as  to  keep  all  the 
mere  earthly  impulses,  together  with  the  proud  and 
rebellious  feelings  of  our  hearts,  under  the  steady 
guidance  and  unyielding  control  of  reason,  as  reason 
is  enlightened  by  the  revealed  will  of  God. 

I  have  endeavored  to  show  you  that  God  has  given 
us  the  means  and  the  capacity  to  cultivate  spiritual 
power,  so  as  to  frame  and  form  ourselves  for  His  ser- 
vice and  His  blessings  ;  and  that  it  is  as  unwise  as 
it  is  ungrateful  for  us  to  complain  that  God  should 
have  endowed  us  with  passions  which  are  so  readily 
trained  to  yield  harvests  of  joy,  and  subject  us  to 
trials  of  faith  and  moral  energy,  through  which  alone 
that  enduring  virtue  can  be  formed  which  is  insepa- 
rably connected  with  happiness  in  time  and  in  eter- 
nity. If  men  choose,  with  the  light  of  all  experience 
blazing  before  their  eyes  and  burning  its  way  to 
their  own  hearts,  and  with  the  light  of  God's  Spirit 
illumining  the  path  of  immortal  glory  in  which  it 
would  guide  them — if,  I  say,  notwithstanding  all  this, 
they  choose  to  give  way  without  a  struggle  to  every 
base  impulse  which  lures  them  to  evil,  and  to  aban- 
don all  self-control,  and  all  the  dignity  which  belongs 
to  moral  energy,  and  thus  to  sink  down  as  the  imbe- 
cile and  shameless  victims  of  subduing  sloth,  selfish- 
ness, and  sensuality — are  they  then  to  complain  if 
dissatisfaction  and  loathing  wretchedness,  with  all 
that  the  world  can  aiford  them,  be  the  fruits  of  their 
doings  here,  and  that  the  loss  of  the  unspeakable 


288  Self-denial. 

aud  transporting  rewards  of  eternity  be  visited  upon 
them  liereafter,  on  account  of  their  voluntary  want 
of  fitness  for  the  reception  or  enjoyment  of  these  high 
blessings  ? 

My  brethren,  I  have  said  that  as  to  the  dignity 
and  necessity  of  self-sacrifice  and  control,  as  we  have 
considered  the  terras,  in  elevating  and  advancing  our 
nature,  the  teachings  of  I^ature  and  Religion  are  the 
same.  To  satisfy  you  of  this,  let  me  ask  you  to  re- 
flect upon  the  history  of  your  race,  and  tell  me  to 
whom  and  to  what  is  it  that  mankind  has  ever  been 
most  ready  to  pay  the  homage  of  tlieir  reverence; 
and  to  what  is  it  that  you  instinctively  yield  your 
especial  admiration?  Is  it  to  the  pampered  lord 
of  millions,  w^ho  has  lived  only  to  indulge  himself; 
who,  in  yielding  to  the  dominion  of  his  passions,  has 
forgotten  the  claims  of  justice  and  the  good  of  the 
young  and  the  innocent;  or  who  has  been  content, 
amid  the  flowers  of  peace  that  bloomed  around  him 
in  the  atmosphere  of  affluence,  to  sink  to  his  eternal 
repose  without  having  given  a  single  lesson  of  virtue 
to  the  world  ?  Is  it  to  such  men  you  yield  your 
hearts'  warmest  love,  and  by  the  example  of  whom 
you  would  seek  to  fire  the  opening  and  ardent  ima- 
ginations of  your  children  ? 

Or  is  it  rather  to  the  bright  and  beautiful  exam- 
ples of  heroic  and  self-denying  virtue  ;  names  which 
have  spread  an  enduring  illumination  upon  the  pages 
upon  which  they  are  written ;  men  who  have  stead- 
ily pursued  good  and  great  ends,  at  every  sacrifice 
of  personal  ease   and  present   interests ;   men  who 


Self-denial.  289 

have  lived  to  promote  Inunan  happiness  and  vir- 
tue ;  who  have  died  for  their  country's  freedom  and 
glory  ;  men  who  adhered  to  conscience  and  to 
duty  through  batfled  hopes,  blighted  promises,  and 
protracted  sorrows  ;  ay,  who  have  held  fast  to  truth 
even  in  death,  and  bequeathed  it  to  posterity  under 
the  seal  of  their  blood  ?  Thus  it  is  seen  and  felt  that 
all  great  inrtxie  bears  the  stamp  of  self-denial ;  with- 
out it  there  would  be  nothing  in  the  struggles  of  our 
race  to  thrill  us  with  admiration.  All  mankind  who 
are  rationally  employed  are  hourly  exerting  the 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice  with  a  view  to  some  future  ad- 
vantage. Turn  your  eyes  to  the  children  of  this 
world,  who  are  wise  in  their  generation,  and  do  you 
not  see  how  they  deny  themselves  ;  liow  they  mortify 
their  inclinations  and  constrain  the  will,  only  that 
they  may  accumulate  a  precarious  and  pei'ishing 
treasure?  The  Christian  profession  would  be  unlike 
all  others  if  its  rewards  were  to  be  thrown  away 
upon  the  folly  of  selfish  impatience,  the  stupidity  of 
idleness,  or  the  utter  unprofitableness  of  enervating 
pleasure  and  selfish  indulgence.  As  the  prize  it 
holds  out  to  us  is  unspeakably  the  richest,  so  is  it 
reasonable  that  it  should  subject  us  to  a  longer  pro- 
bation and  a  severer  trial.  I  repeat,  then,  that  the 
Scriptures  and  Nature — as  Nature  is  heard  in  our 
own  hearts  and  in  all  human  experience — speak  pre- 
cisely the  same  language.  We  can  know  no  lofty 
and  inspiring  virtue  apart  from  the  spirit  of  self- 
sacrifice. 

The  Divine  Jesus  and    all   human   philosophers 
13 


290  Self-denial. 

agree  in  declaring  that  while  happiness  is  the  object 
of  all  human  pursuit,  yet  that  it  is  attainable  only  in 
the  path  of  duty  and  virtue,  and  that  this  path  must 
be  unfalteringly  pursued  and  adhered  to,  although 
we  may  be  assailed  by  the  severest  sufferings  in  the 
most  hideous  forms  that  outward  circumstances  can 
assume. 

In  those  early  ages  of  Christianity  for  which  our 
text  was  more  directly  spoken,  the  Disciples  were 
required  to  take  up  their  cross  in  every  conceivable 
variety  of  suffering ;  their  religion  was  at  once  an 
unbending  principle  of  the  judgment  and  a  supreme 
preference  of  the  affections.  In  all  times  and  under 
all  circumstances  the  genius  of  Cliristianity  must 
remain  the  same,  and  the  principle  under  which  the 
Christian  mast  now  act  is  the  same  principle  of 
entire  self-sacrifice,  and  of  the  most  complete  and 
absolute  resignation  to  the  will  of  the  Saviour.  But, 
then,  my  brethren,  let  it  be  remarked  that  it  is  not 
now  by  outward  sufferings,  or  by  any  peculiar  and 
separate  acts,  that  we  are  to  take  up  our  cross,  and 
manifest  the  sincerity  of  our  devotion  to  the  Saviour's 
cause.  It  is  not,  I  say,  upon  great  occasions,  or  amid 
striking  perils  and  heavy  sorrows,  that  this  is  expect- 
ed of  us,  but  rather  in  the  constant  feelings  and  dis- 
position of  our  hearts,  and  in  the  common  tenor  of 
our  lives  ;  not  so  much  by  enduring  persecution,  as 
in  denying  our  own  will  and  evil  passions,  and  in 
giving  ourselves  up  to  His  reasonable  service.  We 
must  daily  bear  our  cross,  although  the  only  enemy 
with  which  we  have  to  contend  lies  hidden  in  the 


Self-denial.  291 

deep  recesses  of  our  own  hearts ;  we  must  crucify 
tlie  evil  nature  within  us  ;  we  must  bring  every 
guilty  passion  into  subjection  to  a  higher  principle; 
we  must  teach  and  train  every  faculty  we  possess  to 
work  only  as  the  guiding  spirit  of  holiness  shall 
direct.  It  is  not  to  a  personal,  local,  and  outward 
sacrifice  to  which  we  are  called,  so  much  as  to  a  con- 
dition of  mental  and  spiritual  submission  and  con- 
trol. It  is  not  in  this  one  thing  or  in  that  one 
thing,  in  this  practice  or  in  that,  in  this  pleasure  or 
in  that  indulgence,  that  we  are  especially  to  deny 
ourselves ;  but  rather  are  we  to  cultivate  the  habitual 
mind  and  spirit  which  was  "in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord." 
While  in  the  world  you  must  "walk  as  He  walked ;" 
you  must  remember  that  while  He  was  "  holy, 
harmless,  undefiled,  and  separate  from  sinners,"  yet 
He  did  not  abandon  the  world,  nor  the  work  which 
was  given  Him  to  do  in  the  world.  He  did  not  aifect 
any  morose  singularity  in  things  indifferent  in  them- 
selves ;  He  did  not  provoke  the  enmity  of  mankind 
by  anything  needlessly  offensive  in  His  manner 
of  life ;  but  He  mingled  freely  and  readily  with 
all  classes  of  men,  that  He  might  promote  their 
benefit  by  His  example,  and  by  imparting  to  them 
His  immortal  lessons  of  truth  and  righteousness. 
He  gave  no  countenance  to  sin,  while  He  manifested 
no  idle  austerities  in  His  own  conduct ;  He  ate  and 
drank  with  publicans  and  sinners,  while  He  habi- 
tually cherished  and  steadily  illustrated  that  sublime 
spirit  of  self-sacrifice  which  ultimately  led  Him  to 
the  denial  of  every  human  interest  and  passion,  and 


292  Self-denial. 

to  submit  without  a  murmur  to  the  shame  and  the 
agony  of  the  cross.  To  this  pure  and  perfect  Exam- 
ple, Christians,  must  we  bid  you  look  as  your  stand- 
ard of  heavenly-mindedness  and  of  holy  living. 

You  will  observe  that  I  do  not  invite  you  to  sit 
calmly  down  and  occupy  your  anxious  minds  with 
nice  cases  of  conscience,  balancing  for  a  precise  ad- 
justment of  the  measure  in  which  you  may  lawfully 
join  in  this  or  that  indulgence.  You  are  not  to  go 
on  sounding  at  every  step  how  far  you  may  proceed 
without  getting  beyond  your  depth  in  the  whirling 
gulf  of  human  follies.  You  are  not  to  be  forever  cal- 
culating how  near  you  may  approach  the  pestilence 
of  this  M^orld's  wickedness  without  receiving  the 
deadly  infection.  The  rule  I  would  give  you  is  more 
general,  more  elevated,  and  more  certain  in  its  oper- 
ation. I  tell  you  to  begin  with  the  heaet  ;  let  that 
but  be  purified  and  renewed,  and  animated  with  the 
spirit  that  was  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  it  will  teach 
you  with  unerring  and  instinctive  certainty  what  is 
duty — what  is  saving  truth.  You  will  not  then  be 
troubled  to  decide  how  low  you  may  descend  toward 
the  fashions  of  the  world  and  the  lives  of  the  world- 
ly ;  but  your  chief  anxiety  will  be  to  see  how  high 
you  can  rise  toward  the  likeness  of  the  Son  of  God. 
"  Be  ye  transformed,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  by  the  re- 
newing of  your  minds,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is 
the  good,  and  acceptable,  and  perfect  will  of  God  !  " 
This  is  the  only  law  I  can  consent  either  to  acknowl- 
edge or  to  enforce  in  this  matter.  In  that  precious 
liberty  in  which  Christ  has  made  us  free,  one  man's 


Self-denial.  293 

conscience  is  not  another  man's  judge.  Yon  will  do 
well  to  remember  that  with  a  martyr's  firmness  you 
are  to  pursue  the  narrow  path  of  duty,  as  it  is  illu- 
mined for  you  by  the  spirit  of  God,  in  spite  of  every 
peril  and  all  seducements  to  draw  you  off  from  it.  But 
to  forsake  the  world  is  not  to  rise  above  its  pollu- 
tions. To  fly  from  society  is  not  to  triumph  over  its 
temptations  to  evil.  You  are  to  live  in  the  world, 
but  yet  above  the  world.  It  is  not  a  local  and  per- 
sonal separation  from  it  to  which  you  are  called,  but 
rather  to  mental  and  spiritual  elevation,  that  lifts 
you  above  its  blandishments. 

But  I  must  be  done.  If  there  be  any  among  you 
who  have  thrown  from  their  hands  the  reins  of  self- 
government,  and  who  allow  their  inclinations  an  un- 
bridled course ;  who  suffer  their  passions  to  run  to 
all  the  excess  of  riot,  and  who  are  ready  to  say  to  the 
monitor  who  would  admonish  them  of  the  smiling 
death  that  lures  them  on  in  their  mad  career : 
"  Stand  oft'!  these  passions  are  natural  to  me,  and 
must  therefore  be  innocent.  The  Author  of  my  be- 
ing has  implanted  them  within  me,  and  they  hurry 
me  irresistibly  along  the  path  I  pursue,"  Alas ! 
my  brethren,  if  there  be  any  one  spectacle  more  piti- 
able than  another  in  the  endless  anomalies  and  pha- 
ses exhibited  by  our  moral  nature,  it  is  that  of  a 
rational  creature  with  all  his  lordly  and  immortal 
powers  thus  lost  to  reason — thus  benighted  at  noon- 
day— thus  bewildered  in  a  plain  path.  As  well 
might  the  charioteer,  drawn  by  spirited  coursers, 
throw  the  reins  from  his  hands,  and  suffer  them  to 


294 


Self-denial. 


carry  him  wheresoever  they  M-ill,  and  then  excuse 
himself  for  the  ruin  he  occasions  in  his  wild  and  law- 
less way  by  saying:  "I  have  not  control  over  my 
movements  ;  I  have  no  guiding  power  in  my  hand." 

Let  no  man  deceive  himself.  In  looking  at  one 
part  of  our  nature,  let  us  not  at  our  peril  forget  the 
other  parts.  He,  my  beloved  brethren,  who  gave 
us  appetite  and  passion,  gave  us  also  reason,  con- 
science, and  the  steadily  burning  light  of  His  law. 
He  who  will  remember  that  we  are  but  dust,  will 
remember  also  that  His  inspiration  gave  us  under- 
standing. 


CHARITY. 

'■  And  now  abideth  Faith,  Hope,  Charity,  these  three;  hut  the 
greatest  of  these  is  Charity." 

1  Cor.  18th,  ISth. 

HE  chapter  from  which  these  words  aie 
taken  is  among  the  most  beantifnl  speci- 
mens of  impressive  eloqnence  to  be  fonnd 
**  within  the  scope  of  written  language. 
It  is  surely  a  most  remarkable  circumstance  in  the 
history  of  languages,  that  our  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  and  our  book  of  Common  Prayer  should 
have  come  down  to  us  in  a  style  so  chaste,  and  yet 
so  forcible;  so  simple,  and  yet  so  rich;  so  pure,  so 
touchingly  beautiful,  and  so  true  to  the  wants  of  our 
nature,  throughout  all  the  changes  in  the  compli- 
cated structure  of  society,  that  they  even  now  are 
as  fresh  as  they  ever  were,  and  as  peculiarly  adapted 
to  every  variety  of  taste,  and  to  the  deep  cravings  of 
all  hearts  ;  while  all  other  compositions  of  the  ages 
in  which  they  were  prepared  have  long  since  been 
lost  amid  the  ponderous  tomes  of  a  barbarous,  harsh, 
and  forgotten  literature.  The  consideration  should 
never  be  lost  sight  of  by  the  thoughtful  and  pious 


296  Charity. 

mind  which  delights  to  trace  the  finger  of  God  as  it 
passes  over  each  link  in  the  vast  chain  of  His  pro- 
vidence. 

The  object  of  St.  Paul  in  this  striking  passage  is 
to  impress  the  Corinthians  with  the  infinite  superi- 
ority of  true  Christian  holiness  over  all  those  extra- 
ordinary gifts  of  the  Spirit  which,  in  the  wise  ar- 
rangements of  Providence,  were  ])rofusely  scattered 
among  the  members  of  the  infant  Church.  In  con- 
nection with  the  subject  before  us,  we  shall  always 
do  well  to  remember  that  the  introduction  of  tlie 
Gospel  was  nothing  less  than  a  total  moral  revolu- 
tion, in  the  accomplishment  of  which  the  powers 
of  heaven  and  earth,  in  the  language  of  Scripture, 
appear  to  have  been  shaken  to  their  centre.  It  was 
essential  that  some  overpowering  and  preternatural 
testimony  should  be  given  from  Heaven,  in  order  to 
engraft  the  self-denying  doctrines  of  Christianity 
upon  the  impetuous  passions  of  men.  The  result, 
we  know,  was  in  accordance  with  the  mighty  means 
thus  employed.  The  world  was  roused  from  its 
spiritual  lethargy,  and  the  invincible  barriers  of  its 
prejudices  were  broken  down.  They  who  were 
ready  to  turn  away  in  contempt  and  scorn  from  the 
subduing  doctrines  of  the  cross,  were  yet  over- 
whelmed with  awe  by  the  miracles  through  which 
those  doctrines  were  sustained.  And  thus  it  was 
that  the  success  of  the  first  generation  of  the  emis- 
saries of  our  faith  was  in  itself  one  of  the  most  strik- 
ing miracles  of  that  supernatural  age.  In  the  course 
of  thirty  years,  and  at  a  time  when  the  refinements 


CJtmity.  297 

of  human  sensuality  and  the  universal  prevalence  of 
the  grossest  corruption  had  spread  a  deadening  influ- 
ence over  all  spiritual  sensibility,  the  Gospel  was 
carried  triumphantly  over  tlie  wide  area  of  civilized 
society.  It  insinuated  itself  through  all  the  various 
and  minutest  channels  of  life  witli  a  rapidity  to 
which  after-experience  has  afforded  nothing  like  a 
parallel. 

But  after  the  end  for  which  miraculous  gifts  had 
been  given  was  thus  answered ;  after  tlie  hallowed 
dispensation  of  our  love  had  thus  been  planted  deep- 
ly in  the  best  soil  of  tlie  world,  and  had  grown  so  as 
to  overshadow  the  nations  with  its  branches,  then  the 
especial  and  miraculous  Providence  that  liad  fostered 
its  growth  was  withdrawn.  Miracles  were  heard  of 
no  longer,  and  secondary  causes  resumed  their 
course,  in  all  their  original  and  rigid  inflexibility. 
Now,  my  brethren,  that  which  was  a  merely  acces- 
sory and  provisional  arrangement,  introduced  for  a 
specific  temporary  end,  and  which  was  withdrawn  as 
soon  as  that  end  was  answered,  however  dazzling  it 
may  be  to  the  eye  of  human  vanity,  yet  could  never 
have  possessed  a  superior  value  inherent  in  itself. 
The  Scriptures,  while  they  record  as  an  historical  fact 
the  temporary  existence  of  miraculous  gifts,  yet  they 
uniformly  speak  of  them  in  terms  of  depreciation. 
They  were  never  for  one  moment  to  be  compared 
with  the  meek  humility  of  confiding  ^'' faith,''''  with 
the  animating  brightness  of  heaven-directed  "Aoj?^," 
or  to  those  cheering,  ennobling,  and  expansive  fires  of 
"  charity  "  M'hich  the  breath  of  God  alone  could  kin- 
13* 


298  Charity. 

die,  and  which  will  be  as  undying  as  His  own  eter- 
nity ! 

My  brethren,  how  impressive  is  the  lesson  which 
the  history  of  those  early  times  may  afford  us,  of  the 
awful  facility  with  which  the  choicest  gifts  of  Provi- 
dence may  be  perverted  from  their  design,  when 
placed  as  instruments  in  the  hands  of  poor  human 
nature. 

In  the  first  age  of  the  gospel  miraculons  gifts  were 
poured  out  on  the  followers  of  the  faith,  that  each 
one  might  lend  his  aid  in  advancing  the  regeneration 
of  the  world.  But  instead  of  being  impressed  and 
morally  elevated  by  the  distinction  with  which  they 
were  marked,  and  trembling  with  holy  solicitude  un- 
der the  responsibility  with  which  they  were  charged, 
how  humiliating  is  it  to  perceive  that  their  extraor- 
dinary powers  were  valued  chiefly  for  tiie  imaginary 
importance  which  they  were  presumed  to  confer  on 
the  possessors  ;  and  that  they  were  too  often  employed 
rather  for  the  indulgence  of  personal  emulations 
than  for  the  promotion  of  Christian  piety ;  that  their 
assemblies  for  public  worship  were  too  often  the  the- 
atres for  ostentatious  display,  and  the  scenes  of  clam- 
orous and  unholy  contention  !  It  was,  then,  against 
abuses  of  this  character  that  the  indignant  Apostle 
hurled  his  withering  rebukes,  and  it  was  well  and 
wise  that  God,  so  soon  as  His  own  good  purposes 
were  answered,  should  withdraw  His  miraculous  gifts 
from  creatures  so  weak  and  erring  that  they  could 
rarely  use  them  for  the  good  of  others,  save  to  their 
own  injury.     Yea,  it  was  well  and  wise  that  God 


Charity.  299 

should  drop  tlie  veil  wliich  separates  spiritual  things 
from  temporal,  and  leave  us  with  the  Bible  in  our 
hands,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  abiding  silently  but 
surely  in  our  hearts,  to  tread  that  path  of  pbactical 
KiGHTEousNESS  wliicli  leads  to  heaven  as  certainly 
as  if  tongues  of  lire  were  our  directing  guides,  and 
we  were  girt  about  from  harm  by  visible  legions  of 
angels. 

Such,  then,  was  the  object  of  the  fearless  Paul,  in 
the  eloquent  passage  which  is  the  subject  of  our 
thoughts.  It  was  to  correct  the  vain  error  of  sup- 
posing that  the  temporary  possession  of  miraculous 
gifts  was  more  intrinsically  valuable  than  that  uni- 
versal grace  of  holiness  which  springs  from  the  love 
of  God  and  the  love  of  the  creatures  whom  God  has 
formed.  The  universal  diffusion  of  this  grace  was 
the  very  object  for  which  those  boasted  gifts  were 
given.  It  was  the  end  of  all  the  laws,  the  instruc- 
tions, and  the  examples  that  have  come  from  God. 

You  perceive  then,  my  brethren,  that  by  charity 
in  the  text  you  are  to  understand  the  great  moral 
law  of  the  Gospel — love  to  man,  founded  on  the  love 
of  God.  It  is  that  principle  which  unites  all  holy 
and  intelligent  natures  to  God,  as  the  centre  of  being 
and  the  source  of  love,  and  then  unites  them  to  one 
another  in  Him.  It  is  thus  the  bond  of  spiritual 
union  to  the  universe  of  God,  and  will  constitute 
the  supreme  felicity  of  Heaven  through  the  waste- 
less ages  of  eternity.  Now,  says  the  Apostle,  while 
all  momentary  distinctions  are  passing  away,  there 
will  still  abide,  as  long  as  the  discipline  of  earth 


300  Charity. 

continues,  Faith,  Hope,  and  Charity — these  three 
And  it  was  for  these  that  Christ  descended  from  the 
skies,  poured  forth  His  immortal  precepts  to  men 
and  sealed  them  with  His  own  most  precious  blood 
These  three ;  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  charitt 
because  it  is  the  end  and  object  of  both  Faith  and 
Hope. 

Faith  receives  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Saviour 
of  lost  men,  and  then  leads  us  to  accept  His  Gospel 
as  the  rule  of  life,  which  rule  is  to  train  and  build 
us  up  in  Charity.  Hope  animates  the  believer  to 
obedience,  by  picturing  in  entrancing  colors  the 
immortal  rewards  of  duty;  of  which  rewards,  the 
essence  and  sum  will  be  such  as  spring  from  the 
enjoyment  of  Charity.  The  Redeemer  of  men,  in 
the  course  of  His  benevolent  life,  was  a  personifica- 
tion of  Charity.  It  is  the  image  of  God  ;  and  when 
God  would  restore  His  likeness  in  the  souls  of 
degraded  men,  He  sent  forth  the  spirit  of  Charity, 
in  the  person  of  His  Son.  It  would  seem  that  after 
the  atonement  He  was  to  offer,  and  the  immortality 
He  was  to  reveal,  the  great  object  upon  which  He 
expended  the  force  of  His  inspiring  Spirit  was  to 
kindle  and  cherish  the  holy  fires  of  Charity  in  the 
bosoms  of  the  faithful.  He  did  not  unfold  the 
mysteries  of  nature ;  He  did  not  lay  bare  the  secret 
chain  of  causes  in  the  universe;  He  did  not  gratify 
the  vanity  of  science,  or  deprive  the  human  intellect 
of  the  pleasure  of  investigation,  or  the  rewards  of 
laborious  research ;  but  He  toiled  to  unite  mankind 
in  one  harmonious  body  by  the  bands  of  love,  and  to 


Charity.  301 

connect  Heaven  with  earth  by  the  ties  of  beneficence. 
It  is  to  this  grand  result  that  the  Gospel  is  now 
steadily  tending,  and  if  we  will  but  submit  to  its 
training,  it  will  continue  to  advance  our  nature 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  felicity  of  the  Supreme  and 
All-Perfect  Mind,  as  we  rise  from  glory  to  glory  in 
tlie  everlasting  kingdom  of  the  just. 

My  brethren,  our  religion  is  one  vast  temple  of 
Charity  ;  and  sooner  shall  every  stone  be  separated 
from  the  "Head  of  the  Corner"  upon  which  it 
rests,  than  the  holy  fires  of  love,  which  were  lit  by 
Christ  upon  the  altars  before  which  we  serve,  be  ex- 
tinguished by  the  hatred  of  the  devil  and  the  self- 
islmess  of  the  world.  The  abstract  truths  of  our 
faith  have,  no  doubt,  their  vast  importance,  and  the 
outward  ritual,  that  gives  to  those  doctrines  their 
form,  and  name,  and  influence,  is  not  without  its 
high  value.  But  that  which  stamps  the  religion  of 
Jesus  with  its  priceless  worth  is  the  spirit  of  happi- 
ness that  pervades  it;  and  that  happiness  is  placed 
chiefly  in  the  exercise  of  a  mutual  and  universal 
charity.  This  is  the  heavenly  principle  which,  in 
the  heart  of  a  good  man,  the  Apostle  ranks  above  all 
intellectual  strength,  and  above  all  the  graces  and  vir- 
tues of  the  character.  This  is  the  principle  that 
never  fails  nor  chano;es,  while  all  thino^s  else  are 
altered  and  pass  away.  Immutable  and  eternal  as 
the  nature  of  Him  to  whose  glory  it  would  assimi- 
late us,  it  is,  like  Him,  ever  active  in  doing  good. 
It  delights  in  the  contemplation  of  happiness,  and 
labors  to  promote  it.     Neither  the  weariness  of  fa- 


302  Charity. 

tigue,  nor  the  raging  of  the  elements,  nor  the  sighing 
of  the  icy  wind,  nor  the  perils  of  the  pestilence,  nor 
the  desolating  storms  of  hninan  passions,  can  deter 
it  from  meeting  the  calls  of  duty  in  behalf  of  hu- 
manity. 

But  the  charity  of  which  we  thus  speak  is  the  char- 
ity of  sentiment  as  well  as  of  action,  which  gives  its 
prayers  and  its  sympathy  to  the  wickedness  which 
it  cannot  reclaim,  and  the  sorrows  which  it  cannot 
reach.  It  is  that  charity  w'hich  wears  no  man's 
livery,  and  knows  no  boundaries  of  sects  or  party. 
It  respects  the  motives  while  it  pities  the  mistakes. 
It  bears  with  the  failings  while  it  relieves  the  suf- 
ferings of  frail  and  erring  humanity.  Oh !  this  is 
the  charity  that  never  fails,  and  without  which  we 
are  nothing.  For  the  laurels  of  victory  shall  fade 
upon  the  brow  of  the  conqueror,  and  the  loudest 
notes  of  his  triumph  shall  die  away ;  the  dazzling 
gems  of  monarchs  shall  grow  dim,  and  their  lustre 
shall  decay  with  their  strength  ;  tlie  splendid  trophies 
of  learning  shall  be  forgotten,  and  the  proudest  mon- 
uments of  genius  shall  moulder  beneath  the  dust  of 
passing  time ;  the  generations  of  men  shall  sink 
into  the  forgetfulness  of  the  grave,  and  the  arm  of 
all  human  power  shall  be  palsied,  but  Charity  shall 
endure  forever ! 

Faith  shall  ultimately  be  lost  in  sight,  and  Hope 
swallowed  up  in  fruition,  but  Charity  shall  consti- 
tute the  happiness  of  Heaven  through  the  deathless 
ages  of  eternity. 

The  emissaries  of  this  heaven-born  Charity  are  now 


Charity.  303 

braving  the  dangers  of  a  desolate  and  howling  wil- 
derness in  the  West,  the  snows  and  storms  of  the 
North,  and  the  pestilential  air  and  bnrning  sands  of 
Africa  and  the  East,  that  they  may  bear  the  lamp 
of  divine  truth  into  the  dark  and  cheerless  regions 
of  idolatry.  And  it  is  the  same  Charity  which  has 
adorned  all  Christian  lands  with  its  munificent  mon- 
uments of  mercy  :  its  hospitals  for  the  maimed, 
the  diseased,  and  the  dying ;  its  asylums  for  the  aged, 
the  helpless,  and  the  destitute ;  for  penitent  guilt  and 
helpless  infancy ;  for  the  infant  of  days  and  the  old 
man  who  has  not  yet  fulfilled  his  days.  It  gives  in- 
telligence to  the  deaf  and  language  to  the  dumb; 
it  opens  to  the  blind  ten  thousand  sources  of  enjoy- 
ment, and  guides  them  sweetly  in  the  narrow  way 
which  leads  to  Heaven. 

It  is  thus,  my  brethren,  that  it  gradually  advances 
the  moral  amelioration  of  our  race,  and  relieves  an 
immense  amount  of  human  wretchedness.  Oh,  think 
of  the  cruel  and  remorseless  usages  of  savage  life, 
and  the  refined  selfishness  of  all  pagan  civilization, 
and  then  turn  to  the  regenerating  movements  of 
Christian  charity,  and  tell  me  if  you  are  not  fired 
with  faith  and  ho])e  in  the  advancing  destiny  of  our 
race.  Indeed  the  scene  of  its  action  is  as  boundless 
as  human  misery,  and  the  variety  of  its  operations  is 
as  vast  as  the  diffusion  of  human  want  and  human 
woe.  It  traverses  the  dark  and  narrow  lanes  of  your 
cities  where  poverty  dwells — poverty  ghastly  with 
disease  and  famishing  with  wretchedness;  and  while 
it  carries  with  it  to  the  hovels  of  the  destitute  the 


304  '        Charity. 

necessaries  of  life,  and  to  the  deathbeds  of  the  de- 
parting the  consolation  of  religion,  it  snatches  from 
the  nnrseries  of  crime,  from  the  abodes  of  penury, 
ignorance,  and  vice,  swarms  of  dependent  infants,  be- 
fore their  hearts  are  contaminated  with  depravity, 
and  before  their  hands  are  familiar  w^ith  deeds  of 
enormity ;  and  it  schools  them  for  society — trains 
them  for  Heaven.  But  again:  it  goes  to  our  prisons, 
where  guilt  is  enchained  for  the  public  safety,  and 
while  it  carries  consolation  to  the  victims  of  misfor- 
tune, and  would  persuade  the  criminal  to  penitence — 
while  it  proclaims  the  offers  of  pardon  to  the  sin- 
stained  soul — it  is  at  the  same  time  busy  in  reforming 
the  monstrous  abuses  to  which  cupidity  had  for  ages 
subjected  the  captive.  And  more  than  this :  the 
genius  of  Christian  charity  has  pervaded  and  is  per- 
vading the  halls  of  legislation  in  all  Christian  lands, 
and  while  it  contrives  such  means  for  the  prevention 
of  crime  as  may  be  most  likely  to  reform  the  criminal, 
it  silently  and  compassionately  sweeps  the  statute- 
book  with  the  wing  of  mercy,  and  blots  out  the  laws 
which  past  times  had  written  in  blood.  Who  does 
not  perceive  that  by  elevating  and  ennobling  the 
moral  principles  and  feelings  of  our  race,  it  is  grad- 
ually modifying  the  causes  which  led  in  past  times  to 
the  brutal  butchery  and  sweeping  havoc  of  war? 
Surely,  there  never  was  a  time  \vhen  the  glowing 
declaration  of  the  Apostle,  that  "  Charity  never  fail- 
eth,"  was  so  forcibly  illustrated  to  the  dulness  of 
human  comprehension  as  it  is  at  present ;  for  where 
is  the  spot  so  cheei'less  in  this  vast  wilderness  of  woe 


Charity.  305 

that  has  not  been  illumined  and  refreshed  by  the 
genius  of  benevolence?  what  is  the  species  of  wretch- 
edness it  has  not  contrived  to  reach  and  to  relieve? 
Never  was  there  a  time  wdien  the  Bible  was  so  sen- 
erally  circulated,  when  the  ignorant  were  so  generally 
instructed,  and  when  so  many  schemes  were  executed 
for  scattering  the  darkness  and  breaking  the  fetters 
of  the  human  mind.  But  before  leaving  this  head 
of  our  discourse,  bear  with  me  while  I  throw  in  one 
word  of  solemn  caution.  In  following  the  instincts 
of  that  heavenly  principle  of  life  upon  which  we  have 
dwelt,  and  wliicli  cheers  the  heart  that  cherishes  it 
while  it  gladdens  society,  we  cannot  too  steadily 
remember  that  warm  charity,  the  general  friend,  may 
become  the  general  enemy,  unless  she  consults  her 
head  as  well  as  her  heart;  that  if  without  solemn, 
prayerful  consideration  she  follows  the  mere  instinct 
of  pity,  she  may  easily,  1)}^  an  imprudent  generosity, 
create  evils  far  more  injurious  to  society  than  any 
which  she  partially  remedies ;  and  while  she  pleases 
herself  with  the  idea  that  she  is  daily  feeding  hun- 
dreds of  the  poor,  she  is  actually  preparing  famine 
and  want  for  thousands  by  exciting  unreasonable 
expectations,  and  inducing  habits  of  indolence  and 
shameless  dependence.  This  leads  me  directly  to 
another  suggestion  of  the  highest  importance  towards 
the  proper  elucidation  of  the  text.  You  will  remem- 
ber, my  brethren,  that  w^e  have  defined  charity,  as 
spoken  of  by  the  Apostle,  to  mean  love  to  man 
founded  on  the  love  of  God.  The  love  of  his  Creator 
is,  with  the  Christian,  the  mainspring  of  action,  be- 


306  Charity. 

cause  it  is  to  a  likeness  to  the  lovely  attributes  of 
God  that  he  strives  to  bring  himself,  and  every  being 
of  his  common  nature ;  thus  the  ditit'erence  between 
the  philanthropy  of  the  Scriptures  and  the  philan- 
thropy of  natural  religion  is  most  distinctly  marked. 
The  Christian,  in  his  good-will  towards  mankind,  is 
influenced  rather  by  what  is  substantially  and  eter- 
nally good  than  by  what  is  casual  and  transitory, 
and  consequently  he  makes  the  will  of  his  benevolent 
Creator  the  rule  and  standard  of  his  social  aftections. 
The  votary  of  natural  religion,  on  the  contrary,  by 
following  the  mere  impulse  of  kindness  without  any 
regidating  and  correcting  rule  of  right,  by  overlook- 
ing all  the  high  ultimate  purposes  of  our  present  state 
of  moral  trial,  and  by  acting  only  under  the  low, 
debased,  and  fluctuating  standard  of  momentary 
caprice  and  expedience,  is  as  likely  to  be  useless  as 
beneficial,  and  the  result  of  his  doings  is  too  often 
darkly  and  fatally  injurious.  Turn,  my  brethren, 
to  the  history  of  the  world,  on  the  stained  pages  of 
which  the  characters  of  infidel  philosophers  are  writ- 
ten in  ominous  capitals,  and  there  you  may  learn 
how  utterly  delusive  is  the  hope  of  erecting  any  broad 
and  secure  structure  of  happiness  upon  the  merely 
earthly  basis  of  human  feelings  and  motives.  How- 
ever plausible  their  theories  may  have  been,  yet 
nothing  but  bitter  and  deadly  fruit  has  been  produced 
from  the  rank  and  untrained  weeds  of  scepticism. 
An  innate  kindliness  of  feeling  and  a  facility  of  tem- 
perament which  yields  easily  to  the  wishes  and  wants 
of  others  is  often  united  with  great  indolence  of  mind 


Charity.  307 

in  maintaining  the  high  and  everlasting  distinctions 
of  right  and  wrong ;  but  the  good  deeds  of  such  a 
man  are  very  different  things  from  the  practical, 
habitual,  and  all-controlling  philanthropy  of  the 
Gospel,  because  they  have  not  the  love  of  God  for 
their  source,  nor  the  faith  of  Jesus,  with  His  all-seeing 
eye  and  His  coming  judgment,  for  their  constraining 
motive,  nor  the  impulse  of  Paul's  bounding  hope 
for  their  ceaseless  and  unfaltering  action.  Never, 
then,  my  brethren,  confound  the  God-like  principle 
of  Christian  charity  with  that  easiest  and  cheapest  of 
all  virtues,  indolent  good-nature.  Let  your  eyes  be 
directed  in  love  to  the  Author  of  all  blessings,  while 
you  open  your  hands  to  receive  the  good  you  are  to 
dispense  to  others.  Labor  to  diffuse  widely  the 
deepest,  most  solemn,  and  most  abiding  impressions 
of  the  ever-active  presence  of  God,  for  without  that 
the  fabric  of  social  order  will  be  loose,  and  always 
uncertain. 

Administer  to  men's  temporal  wants  always  with 
reference  to  the  training  which  is  to  prepare  them  for 
their  immortal  condition.  Study  to  impress  them 
with  the  consoling  and  ennobling  truth,  that  as  God 
is  the  author  of  every  blessing  they  enjoy  in  time,  so 
He  alone  can  furnish  the  rod  and  the  staff  upon 
which  they  must  hope  to  lean,  as  they  pass  onward 
through  the  mysterious  ages  of  eternity  ! 

Depend  upon  it,  brethren,  that  the  Scriptures,  in 
resting  the  love  of  our  neighbor  upon  the  love  of  our 
God,  have  evinced  a  knowledge  of  the  deep  princi- 
ples of  human  nature,  and  of  the  intricate  relations 


308  Charity. 

of  moral  truth,  far  more  profound  and  extensive 
than  human  and  unaided  philosophy  can  ever  equal. 
It  was  a  part  of  my  plan  to  illustrate  the  text  fur- 
ther, by  showing  how  our  polluted  and  disfigured 
world  has  suffered  from  the  dark  criminality  of  men 
in  failing  to  cultivate  that  charity  which  our  Lord 
came  to  teach,  and  for  which  He  was  scorned  and 
hated  ;  for  which  He  wept,  and  toiled,  and  died! 
But  for  this  I  have  now  no  time.  I  have  no  time 
to  point  you  to  the  scenes  of  butchery  and  blood 
that  have  stained  and  deluged  the  earth  ;  to  remind 
you  of  the  blighting  curses  and  far-sweeping  desola- 
tion which  the  shrieks  of  chained  heretics  and  the 
flames  of  expiring  martyrs  have  brought  down  from 
Heaven  ! 

Oh  !  let  me  point  you  to  the  bickering  and  bar- 
barity, the  bitter  feuds  and  private  jealousies — to  the 
pride,  envy,  hatred,  malice,  and  revenge — which  you 
may  hourly  see  exhibited  around  you,  in  all  the  hate- 
ful forms  in  which  the  bad  passions  of  our  nature 
display  themselves ;  and  then  let  me  tell  you  that 
all  this  is  only  because  the  weeping  genius  of 
Charity  has  found  no  home  in  the  bosoms  of  rebel- 
lious men. 

Ah  !  my  brethren,  how  fair  a  scene  would  this 
earth  present,  if,  instead  of  the  ferocious  scowl  of 
jealousy  and  hatred,  the  beams  of  mutual  kindness 
were  to  be  reflected  from  every  face,  and  Faith, 
Hope,  and  Charity  were  to  be  read  in  letters  of  sun- 
shine in  every  heart !  The  reign  of  universal  benev- 
olence would  then  cause  the  wilderness  and  the  soli- 


Charity. 


309 


tary  places  of  the  earth  to  be  glad,  and  our  moral 
deserts  to  rejoice  and  blossom  as  the  rose. 

If,  then,  you  would  claim  the  title,  if  you  would 
cherish  the  Faith  and  aspire  after  the  Hope  of  a 
Christian,  you  must  walk  in  the  temper  in  which 
your  Master  walked  on  the  earth  ;  you  must  repent 
— you  must  believe — you  must  obey — you  must  bear 
the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  in  the  humility  of  penitence, 
and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ  in  love  and  devotion 
to  God,  and  in  gentleness,  goodness,  sweet  Charity 
to  men ! 


THE   CLOSE  OF  THE  YEAR. 

We  bring  our  years  to  an  end^  cos  it  tvere  a  tale  that  is  told." 

00th  Psalm,  9th  verse. 
Prayer-Book  Translation. 

HE  Psalin  from  wliicli  the  text  is  taken 
is  excelled  by  no  human  composition  in 
propriety  and  richness  of  thought,  and 
*®  beauty  and  tenderness  of  expression.  In 
comparing  the  passage  of  our  years  to  a  light  and 
brief  tale  that  is  told,  it  is  designed  to  illustrate  the 
egregious  folly  of  mankind  in  seeking  only  to  iill 
their  hours  with  momentary  and  fading  amusements, 
utterly  regardless  of  the  infinite  importance  which 
their  bearing  on  eternity  would  give  them. 

How  saddening  is  it  to  reflect,  that  we  are  just 
about  to  take  an  eternal  leave  of  another  of  the  years 
which  make  up  the  span  of  human  life  ! 

The  custom  which  converts  such  conspicuous  j)oints 
in  our  pilgrimage  as  the  commencement  of  a  new 
year  into  a  season  of  social  relaxation  and  joyous 
greetings  had,  no  doubt,  its  origin  in  a  sense  of 
gratitude  to  God,  that  amid  the  cruel  desolation 
which  the  sweeping  progress  of  time  is  effecting,  we 


The  Close  of  the   Year.  311 

have  jet  been  spared  for  a  further  enjoyment  of  His 
bounty. 

Who  is  there  that  can  look  back  upon  the  history 
of  his  doings,  upon  the  errors  which  he  would  glad- 
ly blot  from  the  records  of  the  past,  upon  the  talents 
neglected,  and  upon  the  fields  of  duty  which  are  yet 
unimproved  before  him,  without  lifting  up  his  heart 
in  prayer  to  the  God  of  the  living,  "  Oh,  spare  me 
a  little  before  I  go  hence  and  be  no  more  seen," 

My  brethren,  another  of  our  years  is  about  to  be 
merged  in  the  vast  abyss  of  departed  ages !  There 
is  something  solemnly  interesting  in  the  recurrence 
of  these  stated  memorials  of  time.  They  are  the 
resting-places  for  the  pilgrim  who  is  pursuing  his 
way  through  the  wilderness  of  life,  at  which  he  is 
invited  to  pause  from  the  fatigue  and  hurry  of  his 
journey,  to  survey  the  tract  through  which  he  has 
passed,  and  to  prepare  for  the  measure  of  duty 
which  is  yet  before  him.  And  we  all  of  us,  my 
brethren,  are  pilgrims  toiling  through  the  wilderness 
of  human  life.  Our  path  has  been  pointed  out  to 
us  by  the  finger  of  God  upon  the  map  of  revela- 
tion, and  reason  and  conscience,  enlightened  by  the 
unerring  Spirit,  are  the  guides  that  are  to  secure  us 
from  the  dangers  of  the  way. 

The  season,  then,  at  which  we  have  once  again 
arrived  invites  us  all  to  look  back  upon  the  theatre 
of  our  past  movements,  to  determine  how  fiir  we 
have  advanced,  and  to  estimate  the  difficulties  and 
the  duties  that  may  yet  await  us.  The  season,  in 
short,  invites  us  all  to  solemn  reflection.     It  invites 


312  The  Close  of  the   Year. 

us  irresistibly  to  review  the  career  of  our  lives  ;  to 
mourn  over  our  errors  and  infirmities,  and  to  re- 
new our  wise  and  virtuous  resolutions.  Let  the 
retrospect  be  faithful,  and,  I  think,  if  we  find  some- 
what at  which  to  rejoice,  we  will  find  much  for 
which  to  be  sorrowful  before  our  God.  For  who  is 
there  of  us  that  has  never  deviated  from  the  path 
in  which  reason,  enlightened  by  the  ever-working 
spirit  of  God,  would  by  its  gentle  and  persuasive  whis- 
pers have  conducted  him  ?  And  who  is  there  who 
has  never  been  heedless  to  the  admonitions  and  the 
checks  of  conscience  ?  Who  is  there  that  does  not 
perceive  that  in  despising  the  guidance  of  God,  he 
wandered  in  a  maze  of  error  ?  or  who  ever  refused 
obedience  to  the  calls  of  conscience  except  at  some 
sacrifice  of  his  tranquillity  ?  Alas !  my  brethren, 
I  fear  that  a  faithful  retrospect  of  the  year  that 
is  past  will  bring  with  living  freshness  before  the 
best  of  us  many  things  for  which  we  should  be  sor- 
rowful !  Who  is  there  who  can  direct  a  faithful  ex- 
amination into  the  motives  of  his  conduct  and  the 
issue  of  his  labors,  but  must  perceive  so  much  of  im- 
perfection in  the  one  and  feebleness  in  the  other  as 
oftentimes  to  fill  him  with  pain  and  humiliation  ? 
If  we  find  not  the  record  of  our  doings  stained  and 
dark  with  deeds  of  flagrant  iniquity,  yet  have  we 
not,  in  instances  without  number,  neglected  the 
accomplishment  of  good  which  might  have  been 
effected  had  we  not  slumbered  in  indolence  ?  Have 
we  alwavs  applied  the  powers  and  means  of  use- 
fulness with  which  we  may  have  been  intrusted  to 


The  Close  of  the   Year.  313 

wise  and  wholesome  ends  ?  and  have  we  adva,ncedin 
faith,  and  knowledge,  and  holiness  as  far  as  our  op- 
portunities would  have  warranted  ?  or  have  our  pre- 
cious trusts  of  time  and  talents  been  senselessly 
wasted  ?  Who  is  there  that  has  eifected  anj^thing, 
and  does  not  at  the  same  time  perceive  that  he 
might  have  effected  more  ?  Oh !  who  is  there  that 
can  look  back  upon  twelve  months  of  his  life  with- 
out a  most  saddening  consciousness  of  how  much  he 
has  been  wanting  in  his  duty  to  himself,  to  society, 
and  to  his  God  ? 

But,  my  brethren,  these  retrospects  of  past  years 
are  valuable,  if  they  serve  no  other  purpose  than  to 
impress  us  with  the  rapid  flight  of  time.  In  pros- 
pect, time  is  always  long.  In  retrospect,  our  exist- 
ence is  as  shadowy  and  delusive  as  a  dream.  To 
look  through  the  dim  vista  of  futurity,  there  ap- 
pears a  vast  space  between  the  infant  of  days  and  the 
old  man  who  has  not  yet  fulfilled  his  days  ;  but  go 
to  him  who  has  reached  the  utmost  limit  of  human 
life,  and  he  will  tell  you  that  were  it  not  for  the 
changes  that  have  occurred  around  liim,  he  could 
scarcely  realize  the  lapse  of  time. 

We  are  gliding,  my  brethren,  upon  the  bosom  of 
a  mighty  stream,  which  from  its  vast  and  shoreless 
depth  leaves  us  little  to  mark  the  frightful  rapidity 
with  which  it  is  sweeping  us  into  the  ocean  of  eter- 
nit3\  Look  back,  my  brethren,  upon  the  long  succes- 
sion of  years  that  have  past,  and  tell  me,  where  are 
the  countless  millions  of  men  who  once  were  busy 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth  %     They  are,  my  brethren, 

14 


314:  The  Close  of  the  Year. 

where  we  soon  must  be  !  They  were  swept  into  the 
vortex  of  the  current  of  time,  and  are  now  wrapt  in 
the  oblivion  of  ages. 

Mj  brethren,  the  dying  year  is  about  to  unite  it- 
self with  the  days  beyond  the  flood  !  How  many  of 
our  fellow-mortals,  who  began  it  with  hopes  as  fair 
and  prospects  of  health  as  flattering  as  any  of  which 
we  now  can  boast,  have  been  hurried  to  their  dread 
account,  and  are  now  numbered  with  those  who  have 
lived.  "  We  bring  our  years  to  an  end,  as  it  were  a 
tale  that  is  told."  It  appears,  indeed,  but  as  yester- 
day since  we  were  assembled  thus  upon  the  Sunday 
that  ushered  in  the  year,  but  within  that  period  the 
most  of  us  have  witnessed  changes  in  the  circle  of 
those  whom  we  knew  and  loved,  at  the  recollection 
of  which  the  heart  is  saddened  and  sensibility  weeps. 
Yes,  my  brethren,  the  startling  truth  has  been  brought 
home  to  our  bosoms,  that  neither  guileless  infancy, 
beside  whose  cradle  parental  fondness  watches  with 
unslumbering  eye,  nor  the  vigor  and  elasticity  of 
youth,  nor  the  caution  of  mature  age,  nor  wealth,  nor 
health,  nor  strength,  can  one  moment  secure  us  from 
the  arrest  of  death.  We  must  see  that  our  days  on 
earth  are  at  best  but  a  shadow,  as  a  vision  of  the 
night,  as  a  vapor  that  appeareth  for  a  little  time 
and  then  vanisheth  away.  The  whole  period  of 
time  in  which  we  shall  have  lived  will  in  a  little 
time  be  no  further  remembered,  save  as  it  shall  form 
a  connecting  link  in  the  historical  chain  of  ages. 
Great  God !  "so  teach  us  to  number  our  days  that 
we  may  apply  our  hearts  unto  wisdom." 


The  Close  of  the   Year.  315 

In  connection  with  these  reflections,  which  the  day 
is  so  well  calculated  to  call  forth,  while  I  thus  in- 
vite you  to  present  your  offerings  of  gratitude  to  God 
for  having  thus  far  extended  the  season  of  our  pro- 
bation, and  while  we  moui-n  together  over  the  con- 
sciousness of  sins  and  infirmities  which  have  rendered 
us  unfit  to  die,  while  the  changes  which  attend  the 
fliglit  of  time  remind  us  of  its  brevity  and  its  value, 
let  us  yet  a  little  closer  review  the  circumstances  in 
which  we  may  have  been  placed  in  connection  with 
the  events  of  the  past  }■  ear,  that  we  may  distil  wisdom 
from  the  lessons  of  experience.  And  while  "  our 
years  are  brought  to  an  end,  as  it  were  a  tale  that 
is  told,"  let  us  renew  our  vows  of  trust  in  Him  who 
"  liveth  forever  and  ever." 

Standing  as  we  do  upon  the  ashes  of  departed 
time,  and  before  the  altar  of  the  God  of  our  undying 
spirits,  let  us  pour  forth  our  prayers  to  Hhn,  that 
He  would  strengthen  us  with  His  strength,  while  we 
resolve  to  enter  anew  upon  such  a  career  of  right- 
eousness and  faith  as  we  shall  hope  to  look  back 
upon  without  shuddering  or  regret — such  a  career 
as  can  afford  us  stable  comfort  in  life,  and  unfailing 
confidence  in  death. 

Shrink  not,  my  brethren,  from  a  review  of  the  de- 
partmg  year.  It  will  be  well  thus  to  commune  with 
it,  for  it  will  be  memorable  in  our  country's  history. 
It  is  mournfully  pleasant  thus  to  commune  with  it, 
for  its  incidents  are  consecrated  in  the  reo-ister  of 
our  affections ;  and  it  is  pious  thus  to  commune  with 
it,  for  who  will  not  perceive  in  how  many  instances 


316  The  Close  of  the   Year. 

the  warning  and  restraining  hand  of  Providence 
has  been  laid  upon  us  in  tenderness  and  in  wisdom ! 

Whether,  then,  it  has  been  amid  the  ravages  of 
death  that  our  spirits  have  been  crushed  and  hum- 
bled, or  else  in  the  visitation  by  which  the  darkening 
cloud  of  adversity  has  been  thrown  over  our  advanc- 
ing fortunes,  so  that  our  hearts  have  trembled  lest 
the  grim  visage  of  penury  should  descend  into  the 
household  of  our  love,  let  us  at  once  recognize  the 
appointments  of  a  Parent's  love.  Let  the  suffering 
prompt  us  to  inquire  at  the  bar  of  conscience  what, 
as  individuals,  or  as  Christian  people,  we  have  de- 
served at  the  hands  of  God.  If  we  have  been  be- 
reaved in  our  love,  or  deprived  of  our  earthly  sub- 
stance, have  we  not  still  much  left  of  which  we 
might  have  been  equally  deprived,  if  God's  justice 
had  been  extreme  to  mark  remissness  against  us  % 

No  truth,  my  brethren,  can  be  written  more  clearly 
in  the  whole  experience  of  our  race,  than  that  nei- 
ther the  physical  nor  moral  condition  of  our  na- 
ture can  long  bear  an  excess  of  temporal  prosperity. 
Intellectual  beings  may  possibly  exist  in  the  wide 
universe  of  God,  whose  moral  faculties  have  at  once 
been  rendered  fit  to  be  exercised  in  completeness 
and  perfection  without  the  rough  discipline  which 
is  necessary  to  call  forth  our  energies  upon  earth. 
It  is  certain,  however,  that  all  of  our  better  qualities 
must  be  forced  out  of  us  in  spite  of  ourselves,  or 
else  they  will  remain  forever  dormant.  And  it  is  to 
this  end  that  the  multifarious  evils  which  assail  us 
in  life  are  all  ordered.     They  are  prescribed  by  un- 


The  Close  of  the  Year.  817 

erring  wisdom,  and  come  to  us  stored  with  health  for 
the  soul. 

The  exercise  of  our  moral  faculties  is  tlie  great  ob- 
ject of  our  creation ;  but  if  human  society  existed 
in  undeviating  innocence  and  tranquillity,  without 
any  of  the  reverses  and  sorrows  which  now  mark 
our  lot,  then  practical  morality,  in  its  strict  and 
enlightened  sense,  could  not  possibly  exist.  It  is 
only  our  contact  with  profligacy,  impiety,  and  injus- 
tice that  can  call  forth  our  virtues,  and  give  value  to 
purity,  to  piety,  and  to  meekness.  If  there  be  anj' 
worth  in  FArrn,  then  we  should  be  content  in  our 
limited  knowledge  of  eternity  ;  for  who  does  not  per- 
ceive that  a  little  more  knowledge  would  do  away 
entirely  with  all  the  advantages  resulting  from  that 
humble  and  confiding  disposition  of  mind.  And 
a  little  less  of  personal  disappointment  and  suffer- 
ing would  but  too  probably  have  left  many  a  mind, 
which  these  visitations  have  spiritualized,  too  closely 
attached  to  the  good  things  of  this  life,  and  utterly 
regardless  of  the  next.  Now,  the  curse  which  seems 
to  me  to  hang  over  the  wide  country  of  our  love — 
the  threatening  peril  before  which  I  tremble — is  that 
of  EXCESSIVE  PROsPERrrY ;  and  if  this  is  to  be  said  of 
the  whole  country,  more  especially  must  it  apply  to 
the  fair  and  wondrous  city  in  which  we  dwell.  My 
brethren,  it  is  time  that  the  thoughtful  among  us 
should  rouse  from  their  lethargy  with  regard  to  the 
great  moral  lessons  of  warning  which  are  written  in 
the  analogies  of  nature  and  the  operations  of  Provi- 
dence, and  which  may  be  read  in  the  history  of  all 


318  The  Close  of  the  Year. 

ages  and  nations.  Nothing  which  rises  rapidly  un- 
der the  excitement  of  undue  or  excessive  stimulants 
is  ever  sound  and  enduring  in  its  perfection.  The 
wealth  that  is  won  by  chance  or  hazard,  or  through 
forced  and  unnatural  circumstances,  without  the  self- 
sacrifices  of  enduring  industry,  is  rarely  the  source 
of  real  felicity  to  the  possessor,  and  can  never  be  re- 
lied on  as  the  stability  and  strength  of  a  country. 

My  brethren,  I  am  most  anxious  to  impress  every 
Christian  heart  with  the  deepest  conviction  that  the 
circumstances  in  which  this  proud  city  is  placed,  so 
peculiarly  favorable  to  the  most  rapid  strides  in  ap- 
parent prosperity,  are  always  to  be  watched  with  the 
most  prayerful  vigilance.  The  dangers  to  which 
these  same  circumstances  expose  us  are  most  immi- 
nent and  deadly.  Just  in  proportion  as  our  corpo- 
real excitements  are  increased,  so  is  the  scene  of  our 
moral  trial  enhanced.  Boundless  natural  facilities 
for  increasing  wealth  may  be  dispensed  by  Provi- 
dence ;  they  are  never  to  be  coveted  by  us.  It  is  not 
amid  the  bland  and  bright  climates  of  more  southern 
regions,  where  the  rich  and  cheerful  sun  carpets  the 
earth  with  flowers,  and  ripens  its  fruits  with  abun- 
dance, without  the  wearjnng  toil  of  man,  and  where 
imagination  is  inclined  to  picture  to  itself  abodes  of 
luxurious  repose  and  undisturbed  enjoyment — oh  I 
it  is  not  THERE  that  true  wealth,  true  strength,  and 
the  most  precious  knowledge  have  wielded  their  en- 
during power.  But  rather  has  it  ever  been  amid  the 
sterile  soil,  the  cruel  frosts  and  most  searching  winds 
of  colder  and  sterner  climes.     It  has  been  where 


The  Close  of  the   Year.  319 

difficulties  and  obstruction  have  roused  men  to  ex- 
cessive and  incessant  exertion,  and  exertion  has  add- 
ed power  to  physical  endurance,  and  given  increased 
elasticity  to  spiritual  aspirations.  It  is  where  the 
triumph  of  success  has  perpetually  stimulated  men 
to  fresh  struggles  with  perpetually  recurring  difficul- 
ties. 

Providence  everywhere  showers  down  blessings 
upon  the  earth ;  it  is  for  man  to  gather  them  with 
industrious  caution  ;  to  use  them  with  grateful  mod- 
eration ;  and  thus  to  grow  in  wisdom,  holiness,  and 
strength  for  the  enduring  ages  of  eternity.  Or  he 
may,  if  he  chooses,  wait  in  indolence  and  inglorious 
sloth  until  pleasures  shall  fall  into  his  open  hand;  or 
he  may  abuse  the  bounties  that  are  showered  upon 
him  to  intemperance  and  impiety ;  but  in  so  doing 
he  must  sink  into  effeminacy,  imbecility,  wretched- 
ness and  eternal  degradation. 

I  want  you  to  pause  at  this  comparatively  quiet 
season — a  season  peculiarly  propitious  to  solemn  and 
sound  thought.  I  ask  yo\x  to  consider  for  one  mo- 
ment the  direct  and  certain  tendency  of  a  career  of 
unmingled  temporal  prosperity.  Is  it  not  to  wean 
us  from  everything  but  the  palpable  and  gross  things 
of  the  present  life  ?  Is  it  not  to  make  a  spurious 
and  dangerous  expediency  tlie  full  and  only  measure 
of  the  noblest,  purest,  and  most  sacred  feelings  of  the 
heart  ?  Is  it  not  to  train  the  young  to  a  conviction 
that  our  most  sacred  instincts,  our  purest  moral  im- 
pulses, and  our  finest  domestic  charities  are  all  to  be 
weighed  in  the  coarse  material  scale  of  their  nego- 


320  The  Close  of  the  Year. 

tiable  value  ?  that  they  were  to  be  estimated  only  as 
they  had  reference  to  the  increase  of  our  worldly 
store  ?  I  can  conceive  of  no  tendency  more  to  be 
deplored — I  know  of  no  philosophy  more  dreadful 
than  this  !  It  is  the  unalloyed  philosophy  of  a  cold, 
carnal,  and  worldly  selfishness.  How  can  he  con- 
ceive of  the  intense  and  infinite  value  of  those  sa- 
cred and  ennobling  social  sympathies  which  are  the 
foretaste  of  the  communion  of  heaven  ;  or  of  the  im- 
portance of  those  spiritual  energies  which  are  plant- 
ed in  time  that  they  may  bear  fruit  in  eternity  ? 
How,  I  say,  can  he  estimate  them,  whose  daily 
habit  and  all-absorbing  thoughts  lead  him  to  see 
neither  truth  nor  value  in  anytliing  which  he  can- 
not measure  by  the  power  of  arithmetic  ? 

My  brethren,  tlie  sure  tendency  of  a  glowing  and 
uninterrupted  career  of  worldly  prosperity  is  to  eat 
like  a  canker  into  the  noblest  sensibilities  of  our  na- 
ture. In  the  liurry,  scramble,  and  eager  graspings 
after  the  golden  apples  of  earth,  all  high  and  gener- 
ous breathings  are  smothered ;  lofty  rectitude  of 
principle,  and  all  ennobling  spiritual  considerations — 
considerations  more  stern  than  that  of  profit  or  loss — 
are  all  lost  sight  of;  enslaved  and  overwhelmed  in 
the  base  love  of  the  world,  we  can  only  glory  in  rival- 
ling the  brutes  in  their  low  andsensual  joys  !  Indeed, 
how  serious  and  fearful  is  that  inexorable  tyranny  of 
fashion  under  which  our  souls,  identifying  them- 
selves with  perishable  things  of  eai-th,  forget  all 
that  is  sublime  in  their  intellectual  nature,  and  be- 
come indiflTerent  to  even  the  coldest  perceptions  of 
their  immortality ! 


TJie  Close  of  the   Year.  321 

How  dreadful  is  it  to  walk  with  the  chains  of  the 
world  around  our  necks  ;  and  whenever  our  eyes 
would  be  raised  to  purer  and  better  scenes  than 
these,  to  find  ourselves  instantly  drawn  back 
again  to  the  pollutions  of  earth !  It  cannot  be 
otherwise;  if  we  make  the  riches  of  the  world  the 
god  of  our  idolatry,  we  must  submit  to  the  tyranny 
which  he  imposes. 

But  again,  my  brethren,  there  is  yet  another  evil 
inseparable  from  that  condition  which  is  unchecked 
by  difficulties,  and  stimulated  by  uninterrupted  suc- 
cess ;  and  it  is  this  :  that  the  exhibitions  of  religious 
truth  which  it  will  bear  are  such  only  as  consist 
either  of  dry  and  heartless  disquisitions  of  philo- 
sophic morality,  or  else  of  boisterous  rather  than 
of  fervent  appeals  to  the  feelings ;  of  fantastic  and 
paradoxical  rather  than  of  simple  and  heavenly- 
minded  delineations  of  scriptural  teaching.  All  ex- 
perience will  go  to  prove  the  truth  of  tliis. 

But  we  must  conclude  with  the  expression  of  the 
heartfelt  prayer,  that  we  may  not  forget  the  wise 
and  restraining  corrections  of  the  God  of  mercy, 
come  in  what  shape  they  may. 

My  object  has  been  to  inspire  you  with  that  en- 
nobling confidence  in  the  wisdom  and  mercy  of 
every  dispensation  of  God,  that  you  may  always  be 
submissive  in  adversity,  and  cautious  and  tempe- 
rate in  prosperity. 

The  year,  my  fellow-mortals,  is  about  to  close ; — 
and  to  what  purpose  has  it  been  applied  ?  Impres- 
sive thought !  Who  can  say  that  he  will  live  to  see 
14* 


322  The  Close  of  the  Year. 

the  end  of  that  upon  which  we  are  about  to  enter  ? 
Wlio  can  say  but  the  earliest  flower  of  the  approach- 
ing spring  may  bloom  upon  the  sod  that  covers  his 
grave?  Nay,  wlio  can  say  but  that  the  earliest 
beam  of  to-morrow's  dawn  shall  play  on  his  pallid 
cheek,  already  cold  in  death  ?  And  is  there  nothing 
of  preparation  yet  to  be  made  by  us  ?  "  He  is  a  fool 
who  says  he  will  be  wise  to-morrow."  Oh  !  leave 
not  your  eternal  interests  for  one  moment  hanging 
"  loose  upon  the  point  of  every  wavering  hour." 

You  have  been  redeemed  by  the  precious  blood 
of  Christ  that  you  might  live  with  the  pure  forever. 
Oh  !  continue  not,  then,  to  tliink  and  act  as  if  you 
knew  nothing  of  the  lofty  destiny  that  is  opened 
before  you,  and  as  if  the  dust  was  your  only  abid- 
ing-place, and  this  poor,  checkered,  and  fading  life 
were  the  sum  of  your  existence.  Shall  we  acknowl- 
edge nothing  of  the  ennobling  hopes  and  animating 
prospects  of  the  Christian  ?  Shall  we  be  content  to 
bury  our  aflections  in  the  gross  pursuits,  the  low 
and  vulgar  joys  of  vulgar  life !  Alas !  alas  for 
those  on  whom  these  days  of  darkness  have  already 
fallen ;  who  must  plunge  without  guide  or  guard- 
ian into  the  gathering  gloom  of  death,  and  struggle 
with  its  horrors  as  they  best  can ! 


THE  POWER    OF    CHRISTIANITY. 


'■'■For  God  hatli  not  given  us  the  spirit  of  fear,  but  of  power,  and  of 
love,  and  of  a  sound  mind." 

2  Timothy  1st,  1th. 

PECULIAE.  excellence  of  Christianity  is 
to  be  seen  in  the  elevation  its  jjrinciples 
are  calcnlated  to  confer  upon  the  minds 
of  its  intelligent  votaries. 
It  relieves  us  from  the  abject  and  debasing  fears 
of  ignorance  and  superstition — gives  energy,  activity, 
and  perseverance  to  the  will — calls  forth  the  deepest 
affections  of  the  heart,  and  directs  their  undying  fer- 
vor towards  the  noblest  objects.  It  gives  clearness 
and  worth  to  the  decisions  of  the  intellect,  while  it 
enlists  its  powers  in  the  advancement  of  the  most 
glorious  and  boundless  ends.  No,  my  brethren,  the 
spirit  with  which  Jesus  has  enriched  the  world  is 
not  the  narrow  spirit  of  servile  and  senseless  fear, 
but  rather  the  spirit  of  mokal  power — of  victory 
over  temptation  and  evil ;  and  of  strength  to  do  the 
will  of  God.  It  is  the  spirit  of  love — of  confiding 
trust  in  the  unwavering  goodness  of  God — of  devout, 
inexpressible  gratitude  for  the  ceaseless  exertions 
of  His  transcendent  attributes  in  advancing  human 


324  The  Pwjoer  of  Christianity. 

happiness  ;  and  we  are  thus  impelled  to  tenderness 
and  charity  for  the  creatures  of  God,  who  are  par- 
takers with  us  of  the  unsluniljering  care  and  bounty 
of  our  common  Father.  It  is,  too,  the  spirit  "  of  a 
sound  mind" — that  is,  of  a  mind  exalted  and  en- 
lightened by  Heavenly  Wisdom  ;  purified  and  wisely 
regulated ;  excited  in  due  measure,  and  directed  to 
the  fittest  objects  ;  free  from  all  the  perturbations  of 
passion,  and  the  warpings  of  prejudice ;  elevated 
into  a  superiority  to  unworthy  and  worthless  motives ; 
always  anxious  to  discover  duty,  and  steadily  keep- 
ing alive  the  sense  of  responsibility.  It  is  thus  that 
the  Apostle  declares  that  God  has  not  given  us,  as 
the  disciples  of  Christ,  "  the  spirit  of  feae,  but  of 
POWER,  and  of  love,  and  of  a  sound  mend." 

My  brethren,  it  is  a  noble  declaration,  and  it  fills 
me  with  vast,  ennobling,  and  consoling  thoughts ! 
But,  before  proceeding  to  the  grounds  upon  which  I 
rejoice  to  rest  my  confidence  in  our  religion,  as  ani- 
mating us  with  the  spirit  of  love,  of  power,  and  of  a 
sound  mind,  permit  me  to  remark  that  the  spmiT  of 
FEAE  of  w'hich  the  Apostle  here  speaks,  as  being  op- 
posed to  the  true  spirit  of  the  Christian,  is  not  by 
any  means  that  reverential  fear  of  God  which  the 
whole  compass  and  force  of  revelation  goes  to  enjoin, 
and  wdiich  so  justly  becomes  beings  who  are  con- 
scious of  their  infirmity,  aware  of  their  constant  ex- 
posure to  sin,  and  anxious  to  guard  against  trans- 
gression, "Happy,"  in  that  sense,  "is  the  man  who 
feareth  always."  But  by  the  "  spirit  of  fear "  in 
this  place  is  rheant  a  prevailing  timidity  of  disposi- 


The  Power  of  Christianity.  325 

tion — such  a  slavish  dread  of  God  as  our  Judge,  and 
of  man  as  our  cruel  foe,  as  destro)'s  all  holy  (ionfi- 
dence  towards  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  incapaci- 
tates us  from  meeting  duty  in  the  fear  of  opposing 
men.  Now,  it  is  in  opposition  to  this  timid  and 
abject  spirit,  that  the  Apostle  asserts  tliat  the  spirit 
of  the  Gospel  is  a  spirit  of  courage  and  power ; 
that  its  tendency  is  to  banisli  fear  from  the  heart  of 
man ;  to  inspire  him  with  a  love  which  nothing 
earthly  can  enfeeble  ;  to  illumine  his  path  with  the 
light  of  wisdom  ;  and  to  carry  him  on  his  w^ay  with 
rejoicing  and  confidence  !  But  here  the  question 
presents  itself.  How  is  it  that  this  powek  is  conferred 
upon  the  mind — the  power  which  is  thus  to  make  us 
victorious  over  sin,  over  ourselves,  over  the  down- 
ward and  debasing  tendencies  of  our  nature,  and 
over  all  the  pain  and  peril  M'hich  the  outward  powers 
of  the  universe  can  inflict? 

It  is  easy  to  give  utterance  to  high-sounding 
declamations  upon  the  ennobling  tendency  of  the 
Christian  faith.  The  richest  coloring  of  a  gorgeous 
and  florid  diction  may  be  thrown  over  the  capabili- 
ties of  the  human  mind,  as  it  is  expanded,  liberalized, 
and  strengthened  by  the  developments  of  Christianity. 
But  if  the  power  thus  depicted — with  all  the  glow 
and  glitter  that  can  be  gathered  from  the  fields  of 
poetry  and  fiction — amounts  to  no  more  than  the 
power  of  example,  in  the  stainless  model  of  perfec- 
tion exhibited  in  the  life  of  Christ,  and  the  extent 
to  which  the  feeling  of  self-sacrifice  should  be  car- 
ried, as  it  is  exemplified  in  His  cross;  oh!  if  this 


326  The  Power  of  Christianity. 

be  all,  it  is  indeed  mournful  to  think  that  the  solemn 
feelings,  the  deepest  wants,  and  the  eternal  hopes  of 
mankind  are  thus  to  be  trifled  with  by  the  high-sound- 
ing but  empty  rhetoric  of  a  teacher  of  this  world's 
treacherous  philosophy,  —  the  philosophy  that  in- 
sists upon  resting  man's  sufliciency  in  himself,  in  his 
own  worth  and  energy,  in  the  strength  of  his  moral 
purposes,  and  in  the  purity  of  his  spiritual  aspira- 
tions ;  the  philosophy  which,  in  the  face  of  all 
human  history,  in  the  face  of  all  observ^ation  and  all 
personal  experience,  would  set  forth  the  sutiiciency 
of  example  to  subdue  passions,  to  correct  all  tenden- 
cies to  evil,  and  to  arm  the  soul  with  such  an  uncon- 
querable love  of  purity  and  truth,  that  all  temptations 
of  pleasure  and  applause,  of  gain,  interest,  and  safety, 
in  opposition  to  suffering  and  scorn,  to  loss  and 
calamity,  to  peril  and  death,  are  to  fall  powerless 
before  it.  This,  I  say  most  fully  and  emphatically, 
is  the  philosophy  of  the  insidious  and  blighting  god 
of  this  world !  It  is  the  philosophy  of  pride,  of  self- 
sufficient  and  vainglorious  boasting,  in  opposition  to 
humility  and  self-distrust.  It  is  the  philosophy  of 
wilful  independence,  conceited  self-reliance,  and 
disdainful  neglect  of  the  Divine  guidance  and  aid, 
in  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  devout  meekness,  of 
anxious  submission  and  obedience,  and  of  the  most 
perfect,  unwavering  trust  in  the  constancy  of  that 
light,  direction,  and  strength  which  is  above  the 
world,  for  which  Christ  has  told  us  to  look  al- 
ways, and  without  which  none  of  the  hopes  with 
which  He  has  enriched  us,  nor  the  principles  He  has 


The  Poioer  of  Christianity.  327 

tanght  us  to  cherish,  can  be  either  fed  or  retained  by 
ns.°  Here,  then,  you  are  enabled  to  see  where  it  is 
that  the  "spirit  of  power,"  of  which  the  Apostle 
speaks,  is  truly  derivqd,  and  through  which  the  soul 
is  ennobled  and  relined,  and  enabled  to  break  away 
from  the  chains  of  passion  and  sense  which  clog  and 
enfeeble  it  here,  and  may  destroy  it  eternally. 

Our  limits  will  scarcely  allow  me  to  present  you  with 
all  the  thoughts  which  press  upon  my  mind  in  connec- 
tion with  this  branch  of  our  subject,  or  nothing  would 
be  easier  than  to  show  how  admirably  this  doctrine  of 
Divine  influence  bears  upon  the  real  necessities  of 
our  nature,  and  how  it  serves  to  develop  the  noblest 
of  our  moral  energies,  precisely  when,  to  a  hasty  ob- 
server, it  might  seem  calculated  to  induce  indolence, 
and  a  supine  abandonment  of  our  natural  powers. 
That  the  doctrine  of  the  persuasive  influence  of 
God's  Holy  Spirit  upon  the  mind  of  man  is  one  of 
tremendous  importance,  the  uniform  solemnity  of 
the  language  of  Scripture  in  every  allusion  to  the 
operations  of  the  Spirit  is  enough  to  satisfy  us ;  and 
that  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  subject  full  of  difficulty 
to  the  unsanctified  curiosity  of  the  human  intellect, 
the  endless  speculations  which  have  been  advanced 
in  connection  with  it  will  be  sufficient  to  prove. 

It  is  enough  for  me  that  the  Scriptures  were  not 
intended  to  satisfy  us  upon  subjects  of  curious  sub- 
tlety and  useless  speculation.  Wherever,  in  subjects 
of  the  kind,  we  were  dark  before,  revelation  leaves 
us  so.  Its  great  object  is  happiness  and  practical 
purity.      With   a   serene   and   tran(|uil   dignity,   it 


828  The  Power  of  Chrutianity. 

moves  directly  to  the  great  moral  end  in  view.  It 
stops  not  to  perplex  the  understanding,  while  seek- 
ing to  improve  and  invigorate  the  afi'ections  of  the 
heart.  It  appeals  directly  and  strongly  to  the  deep- 
est wants  and  instinctive  feelings  of  man's  nature  ; 
and  the  responsive  thrills  with  which  those  feelings 
— the  best,  the  purest,  and  most  unerring  of  all  the 
powers  and  affections  that  can  animate  and  move  us 
— the  responsive  thrill  with  which  they  meet  the 
teachings  of  Jesusj  is  enough  to  assure  us  that  the 
language  we  thus  hear  is  the  language  of  Heaven 
and  of  Truth. 

My  brethren,  it  is  the  same  language  which  tells 
us  what  we  all  feel  and  know  to  be  true — what  no 
man  ever  thought  of  doubting  until,  in  seeking  to  be 
wise  above  the  privilege  of  mortals,  he  became  a 
fool ; — it  tells  us  that  we  are  all  free  to  choose  and  to 
pursue  the  path  of  righteousness  and  immortality, 
and  that  we  are  of  course  responsible  for  the  use  or 
abuse  of  this  freedom  and  capability.  But  it  tells  us 
something  more  than  this,  and  here  too,  alas  !  its  in- 
struction is  hourly  conlirmed  by  our  own  humiliating 
experience  ;  it  tells  us  that  although  we  are  able  to 
discover  and  free  to  pursue  the  "  better  way,"  yet 
that  the  native  tendencies  of  our  constitution  are  not 
to  purity  and  holiness ;  that  although  we  may  pos- 
sess within  ourselves  an  instinctive  admiration  of 
what  is  pure  and  good,  and  readily  sympathize  with 
all  that  is  celestial  and  really  great — all  that  is  just, 
generous,  and  beneficent — yet  that  there  is  in  our 
nature   a  principle   of  gravitation   which,  like   the 


The  Power  of  Christianity.  329 

great  law  of  the  natural  world,  turns  everything  to 
the  earth,  Notwithstandhig  all  the  instincts  of  our 
better  nature ;  notwithstanding  the  coloring  and 
drapery  which  the  imagination  may  throw  over  the 
ideal  images  of  virtue  it  delights  to  create ;  notwith- 
standing the  strong  and  thrilling  aspirations  after 
something  higher  and  better  than  the  world,  which 
the  most  of  us  have  sometimes  known,  and  which 
bespeak  our  alliance  with  a  loftier  spirit ;  notwith- 
standing all  this  virtue  and  excellence,  in  theory 
AND  IN  MUSING,  yct  in  practice  we  are  too  much  dis- 
posed to  forget  and  resist  all  of  these  better  thoughts, 
and,  in  spite  of  the  chidings  of  conscience,  to  aban- 
don ourselves  to  the  empire  of  passion,  while  we  sac- 
rifice every  interest,  temporal  and  eternal,  to  yield 
ourselves  without  a  struggle  to  appetites  which  we 
despise,  and  to  vices  which  we  condemn  ! 

Such  is  no  more  than  a  faithful  and  humiliating 
picture  of  human  nature,  as  it  is  exhibited  in  the 
history  of  all  time.  There  is  no  such  depravity 
exhibited  as  to  render  us  insensible  to  the  authority 
of  reason  or  the  obligations  of  conscience ;  but  their 
sanctions  are  acknowledged  only  to  render  our  devi- 
ations from  their  rule  more  portentous  and  more 
inexcusable. 

Inexplicable  by  any  principles  of  philosophy  as 
the  infatuation  may  be  under  which  mankind  are 
found  to  rush  into  crime  and  ruin,  yet  the  power  of 
the  fascination  cannot  be  doubted  ;  and  what,  under 
these  circumstances,  will  the  chatterings  of  scholars 
and  schoolmen  avail,  with   all   their  dogmas  as  to 


830  The  Power  qf  Christianity. 

the  elevation  of  poor  human  nature,  and  their  ght- 
tering  show  of  pure  examples  in  stainless  morality  ? 
My  brethren,  they  will  be  worse  than  feebleness  it- 
self in  resisting  the  impulse  of  passion  and  breaking 
the  spell  of  evil  propensity.  Sensuality  and  the  love 
of  the  world  will  still  sit  proudly  on  their  thrones, 
and  laugh  to  scorn  the  impotence  of  such  philosophy. 
Men  thns  taught,  after  a  few  ineffectual  efforts  to 
shake  off  the  degrading  encumbrance  of  appetite, 
will  soon  come  to  regard  it  as  their  nature,  and 
will  submit  with  nnresisting  listlessness  to  a  destiny 
which  they  snppose  it  impossible  to  control  or  resist. 

It  would  then  appear  that  if  there  be  any  limit  at 
all  to  our  moral  freedom,  or  to  our  moral  power 
over  THE  WILL,  the  limit  is  imposed  on  onr  liberty 
and  POWER  to  do  right  ;  and  it  is  precisely  here 
where  onr  foe  is  all-powerful  and  we  are  helj)less  ; 
where  the  spirit  may  thirst  after  good,  but  is  over- 
come, pressed  down,  and  smothered  by  the  j)erverse 
inclinations  of  the  flesh.  It  is  here  that  the  Divine 
Spirit  comes  graciously  to  our  aid,  and  enables  us  to 
struggle  with  onr  evil  nature,  our  soul's  enemy,  upon 
at  least  equal  terms ;  to  run  fairly  the  race  that  is 
before  us,  and  to  strive  for  the  glorious  prize  of  sal- 
vation with  confidence  inspired,  hope  roused,  and 
energies  invigorated ! 

So  far,  therefore,  is  the  power  which  we  derive 
from  the  Holy  Spirit  from  being  inconsistent  with 
our  moral  liberty,  that  it  may  with  more  propriety 
be  considered  as  the  source  from  which  that  liberty, 
properly   understood,    is   derived.      In   his   natural 


The  Power  of  Christianity.  331 

state,  man  may  see  and  admire  duty ;  but  lie  is  too 
feeble,  and  too  much  the  slave  of  passion,  success- 
fully to  pursue  it.  To  counteract,  therefore,  the 
otherwise  irresistible  tendency  to  evil  and  guilt,  and 
to  endow  lis  with  the  perfection  of  freedom,  the  aid 
of  which  the  Scriptures  speak  was  absolutely  re- 
quired ;  it  comes,  you  will  observe,  only  proportion- 
ately to  our  wants.  It  comes  not,  like  the  whirl- 
wind, to  sweep  away  our  natural  powers,  and  to 
hurry  us  irresistibly  onwai-d,  we  know  not  where  or 
how,  but  rather  like  the  propitious  breeze,  to  w^aft 
us  gently  tln-ough  the  narrow  way,  and  amid  the 
clouds  and  darkness,  the  storms  and  the  perils  of  life, 
towards  the  haven  of  eternal  safety. 

So  much,  then,  for  the  Spirit  of  Power,  in  which 
it  is  our  privilege  to  rejoice  as  the  gift  of  God.  "We 
come  now  to  the  Spirit  of  Love. 

I  have  already  said  that  one  of  the  most  striking 
peculiarities  of  the  religion  of  Christ  is  its  continual 
appeal  to  the  affections.  It  stands  distinguished  from 
all  other  systems  of  religion  or  philosophy  by  intro- 
ducing LOVE  towards  our  Heavenly  Father  as  one 
of  the  principal  motives  to  obedience.  It  exhibits 
Christ  as  the  Saviour  God—  as  partaking  with  us  of 
a  common  nature — with  a  view  not  only  to  display  a 
perfect  and  exalted  model  of  goodness  for  our  exam- 
ple, but  also  to  awaken  in  us  more  effectually  those 
feelings  of  devout,  grateful,  and  affectionate  attach- 
ment which  it  would  not  be  easy  to  entertain 
towards  God  as  the  un revealed  and  invisible  Author 
and  Governor  of  the  univei'se.     In  beautiful  con- 


332  The  Power  of  Christianity. 

formity  with  this  plan,  these  feelings  are  required  to 
manifest  themselves  in  a  duteous  regard  to  His  will. 
"  If  3'e  love  me,"  said  the  Saviour,  "  keep  my  com- 
mandments." "  And  this  is  His  love,"  said  St. 
John,  "  that  we  walk  after  His  commandments." 
Here  we  have  set  before  us  the  true  principle  of 
Christianity,  and  the  best  application  of  it ;  the 
purest  motive,  and  the  most  perfect  practice.  Here, 
in  short,  we  are  told  what  our  conduct  ought  to  be, 
and  from  what  source  that  conduct  ought  to  spring. 
The  love  of  Christ,  as  our  revealed  God,  is  the 
proper  ground  of  our  obedience,  and  the  only  test  of 
our  love  for  Christ  is  the  keeping  of  His  command- 
ments. 

I  know  but  too  well  that  the  history  of  our  faith 
has  been  stained  and  disfigured  by  too  many  humilia- 
ting mistakes  upon  these  important  points.  Persons 
have  too  often  been  found  to  profess  a  most  fervent 
and  zealous  love  for  their  Redeemer,  are  weighed 
down  with  a  sense  of  their  obligations  to  Him,  are 
always  ready  to  weep  at  the  recital  of  His  cruel 
wrongs,  and  are  easily  wrought  up  to  a  determina- 
tion to  pour  forth  their  blood  like  water  in  defence 
of  His  cause ;  yet  they  are  so  far  from  giving  the 
simple,  direct,  and  every-day  proof  of  their  love 
which  the  Saviour  has  required — the  keeping  of  His 
commandments — that  they  seem  to  imagine  that  the 
very  warmth  of  their  feelings,  the  glow  and  fervor 
of  their  devotion,  is  an  excuse  for  the  carelessness 
of  their  practice,  and  as  affording  them  a  kind  of 
license   for    giving   way  to   evil    tendencies.     This 


Tlie  Power  of  Christianity.  833 

mournful  perversion  of  Christian  truth  in  some  per- 
sons lias  had,  naturally  enough,  the  effect  of  inspir- 
ing others  with  aversion  or  contempt  for  all  senti- 
ments of  affectionate  piety.  Its  clear  tendency  has 
been  to  bring  into  utter  reproach  the  Gospel  motive 
of  love  towards  the  Redeemer,  as  savoring  of  danger- 
ous fanaticism,  and  leading  to  the  substitution  of 
enthusiastic  feelings  for  a  virtuous  life.  But  the 
mistakes  and  perversions  of  men  afford  us  no  ground 
or  reason  for  concealing  the  high  or  generous  mo- 
tives of  action  with  which  tlie  religion  of  Jesus 
would  enrich  and  animate  the  soul.  ISTothing  can 
be  clearer  than  that  the  stirring  exhortations  of  the 
sacred  teachers  to  the  most  unfaltering  devotion  to 
practical  duty,  to  the  most  sleepless  anxiety  in  culti- 
vating purity  of  heart,  and  the  discipline  of  the 
passions,  are  founded  on  the  love,  gratitude,  and  rev- 
erence which  we  ought  to  feel  towards  our  great 
Redeemer.  These  are  the  sentiments  which  they 
are  constantly  striving  to  keep  alive,  and  to  consti- 
tute, as  it  were,  the  main-spring  of  their  system. 
They  appeal,  indeed,  to  fear  and  to  hope,  to  rewards 
and  punishments,  but  they  "  knew  what  was  in 
man ;  "  they  knew  that  his  feelings  must  be  enlisted 
to  secure  his  ready  obedience.  Tliey  knew  full  well 
that,  as  paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  yet  it  was 
not  enoug'h  to  convince  the  understandii^s  of  men 
as  to  what  was  their  true  interest,  for  man  will  not 
follow  his  interest  if  his  affections  go  not  along  with 
it.  The  heart  must  be  warmed,  as  well  as  the  rea- 
son convinced.     Our  Lord,  therefore,  did  not  make 


334  The  Power  of  Christiamm/ 

His  religion  a  mere  matter  of  cold  and  prudent  cal- 
culation, but  rather  of  earnest  and  affectionate  zeal. 
Those  warm  affections  which  God  has  implanted  in 
the  heart  He  never  means  to  destroy,  but  rather  to 
direct  and  fix  them  upon  the  noblest  objects.  Rea- 
son may  satisfy  us  as  to  wdiat  we  ought  to  do,  but  it 
is  another  thing  so  to  excite  us  that  we  actually  do  it. 
To  think  rightly  about  religion  is  one  thing ;  to  feel 
and  act  rightly  is  quite  another  thing.  The  clear, 
cold  moon  may  shine  brightly  upon  the  fields  of 
human  duty,  and,  under  its  softening  light,  the  wide 
landscape  may  be  really  beautiful,  as  God  has  check- 
ered and  enriched  it ;  but  still  the  mild  light  of  the 
moon  is  powerless  to  rouse  men  from  the  stupor  of 
senseless  slumber,  and  it  is  not  until  the  glorious  sun 
bursts  upon  us  in  his  might,  to  wakm  while  it  illu- 
mines and  adorns,  that  we  start  from  the  couch  of 
indulgence,  and  press  onward  with  fresh  vigor  in  the 
career  of  duty  to  which  God  has  called  us.  So,  too, 
the  conviction  of  the  understandino;  is  as  the  light 
of  the  cold,  chaste  moon — we  slumber  while  we 
know  that  the  field  of  duty  is  before  us,  and  it  is  not 
until  the  sun  of  God's  Spirit  shines  into  our  hearts, 
warming  us  with  the  love  of  Christ,  filling  us  w^ith 
admiration  for  the  blended  majesty  and  loveliness 
which  is  revealed  in  all  that  He  hath  suffered  and 
in  all  that  He  hath  won  for  us,  and  irresistibly  con- 
straining us  to  live  no  longer  for  ourselves  only,  but 
for  Him  who  hath  loved  us  and  "  given  Himself  for 
us,"  that  we  press  anxiously  onward  in  every  path  of 
meek  and  pi-actical  obedience.     To  love,  thus  awa- 


The  Power  of  Cliristianity.  335 

kened,  every  task  is  liglit,  and  every  sacrifice  easy. 
It  sustains  the  heart  amid  its  sufferings,  and  ani- 
mates it  to  meet  every  toil.  It  inspires  the  self- 
denial  of  the  saint,  and  the  self-devotedness  of  the 
martyr,  and  leads  us  to  manifest  to  others,  whom  we 
see  as  the  brethren  of  Christ,  the  love  we  profess  to 
cherish  for  Him,  the  Brother,  the  Almighty  Brother, 
whom  we  have  not  seen — to  manifest  it  in  tenderest 
exhibitions  of  sympathy,  and  in  the  most  unwearied 
offices  of  kindness. 

Such,  my  brethren,  is  the  spirit  of  love  which  God 
has  given  us,  and  thus  is  it  seen  to  be  "  the  fulfilling 
of  the  law." 

But  I  have  not  yet  done,  and  I  begin  to  fear  that 
I  have  left  myself  but  little  room  in  your  patience 
for  even  the  most  brief  illustration  of  the  third  point 
of  the  Apostle's  glorious  declaration,  that  ''  God  has 
not  given  us  the  spirit  of  fear,  but  of  power,  and  of 
love,  and  of  a  sound  mind."  This  last  expression 
means  the  same  thing  as  enlightened  prudence,  or 
sound  and  sober  judgment.  The  true  influence  of 
religious  principle  in  this  respect  is  much  greater 
than  may  at  first  sight  appear.  It  is  heavenly  wis- 
dom exalting  and  enlightening  common  sense,  and 
blessing  the  world  with  the  proprieties  of  religion — 
with  everything  that  is  calm  and  rational,  with 
what  is  sober  and  dignified,  in  opposition  to  the 
extravagances  of  folly,  to  what  is  wild  and  fanatical, 
and  to  all  the  wanderings  of  the  soul  under  hasty 
impulses  into  the  dark  and  trackless  path  of  absurd- 
ity and  error.     Only  reflect  for  one  moment  upon 


336  The  Power  of  Christianity. 

the  religious  history  of  our  race ;  consider  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  for  men  to  arrive  at  truth  amid  the  rash 
and  silly  speculations  with  which  human  reason  has 
contrived  to  embarrass  and  perplex  it,  and  then 
who  will  not  pray  with  me  that  God  would  indeed 
bless  us  with  the  spirit  "  of  a  sound  mind  ? " 

See  now,  my  brethren,  the  beautiful  consistency 
and  union  of  these  ingredients,  which  together  make 
up  the  atmosphere  of  our  spiritual  life.  The  spirit 
of  power,  if  it  were  not  humanized  and  softened  by 
the  spirit  of  love,  would  harden  into  revolting  aus- 
terity ;  sheer  fervency  of  character,  forgetful  of  the 
gentleness  of  Christ,  has  too  often  consumed  good- 
ness in  the  execution  of  duty.  The  spirit  of  love, 
without  power,  would  sink  into  soft  imbecility.  The 
spirit  of  a  sound  mind  without  power  would  degene- 
rate into  a  slothful  perception  of  what  was  right, 
and  without  the  spirit  of  love  would  be  little  more 
than  the  cold  calculations  of  selfishness.  Without 
a  sound  mind,  all  is  foolishness ;  without  love,  all  is 
savage  ferocity  ;  and  without  power,  all  would  be 
feeble  and  worthless  aspirations  after  what  is  beau- 
tiful in  holiness,  and  truth.  Thus  it  is  that  we 
must  feel  the  grasp  of  duty,  in  its  wide  compass, 
upon  our  spirits.  Thus  it  is  that  we  must  be 
as  wise  as  serpents,  while  we  are  as  harmless  as 
doves.  Thus  it  is  that,  with  eternity  steadil}^  in  our 
view,  every  faculty  and  every  feeling  that  God  has 
given  us  must  be  brought  into  action  for  the  divine 
glory,  and  for  the  happiness  of  men. 


THE   ATONEMENT. 


"  For  the  Jews  require  a  sign,  and  the  Greeks  seek  after  wisdom  : 
but  we  preach  Christ  crucijicd,  unto  the  Jews  a  stumbling-block,  and 
unto  the  Greeks  foolishness  ;  but  unto  them  that  are  called,  both  Jews 
and  Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the  wisdom  of  God.'''' 

1  Cor.  tst,  lid,  28d,  lUh. 

X  the  epistle  from  which  tliese  words  are 
taken,  the  Apostle  has  declared  that  he 
did  not  intend  to  introduce  any  new  sys- 
tem of  philosophy  to  the  world,  or  to 
gratify  any  vain  or  useless  curiosity ;  nor  was  he 
laboring  to  captivate  their  hearts  with  the  charms 
of  eloquence.  His  great  and  simple  object  was  to 
unfold  the  important  truths  of  God  and  immortality, 
and  to  enforce  and  illustrate  the  solemn  duties  with 
which  these  truths  were  connected.  He  then  goes 
on  to  declare  his  own  unfaltering  resolution  of  ad- 
hering to  this,  the  absorbing  purpose  of  his  life,  in 
spite  of  every  obstacle  which  prejudice,  pride,  or 
power  might  raise  against  it. 

In  the  verses  of  the  text,  as  we  have  read  them, 
he  sets  forth  the  different  kinds  of  proof  which  were 
demanded  in  matters  of  religion  by  the  Jew  and  the 
Greek,  according  to  the  difference  of  their  national 
character  and  religious  education.     "  The  Jews  re- 

15 


338  TTie  Atonement. 

quire  a  sign,  and  the  Greeks  seek  after  wisdom." 
The  Jews  require  a  sign,  that  is,  a  MiRAcrLous  sign. 
The  Jews,  from  the  very  infancy  of  their  history, 
and  through  every  period  of  its  advancement,  had 
been  famiHar  with  miraculous  operations.  Their 
very  origin  as  a  people  was  miraculous.  The  separa- 
tion of  Abraham,  their  great  ancestor,  from  the  ig- 
norance and  idolatry  of  the  nations,  was  effected  by 
the  supernatural  interposition  of  the  Almighty.  The 
preservation  of  Moses,  their  great  lawgiver,  was  by 
an  extraordinary  interposition  of  Divine  mercy.  The 
publication  of  their  law  was  miraculous.  It  was  by 
a  miracle,  that  they  were  delivered  from  the  chains 
of  Pharaoh,  and  the  oppression  of  Egypt.  By  a 
miracle,  the  first-born  of  Israel  were  saved ;  while 
the  first-born  of  Egypt  perished  in  a  night.  By  a 
miracle,  the  sea  opened  them  a  passage  to  their  na- 
tive country ;  while  the  hosts  of  the  pursuing  enemy 
were  overwhelmed  in  the  deep.  By  a  miracle,  they 
were  conducted  through  the  pathless  wilderness  ; 
the  pillar  of  cloud  serving  them  as  a  compass  bj'^ 
day,  and  the  pillar  of  fire  as  their  guide  by  night. 
By  a  miracle,  food  descended  from  heaven  to 
satisfy  their  hunger;  and  at  their  cry  of  necessity, 
water  gushed  from  the  flinty  rock.  In  short,  from 
their  perpetually  witnessing  the  most  astonishing 
display  of  a  miraculous  providence  to  uphold  their 
polity,  and  carry  onward  their  destiny,  they  came  to 
consider  some  miraculous  sign  absolutely  essential 
to  establish  a  doctrine  as  being  from  God.  And 
thus  it  was  that  "  the  Jews  required  a  sign." 


The  Atonement.  339 

The  Greeks,  on  the  contrary,  were  a  refined  peo- 
ple, much  given  to  the  abstruse  disquisitions  of  phi- 
losophy, and  utterly  incredulous  of  everything  pre- 
tending to  supernatural  interference.  They  de- 
manded conviction  through  the  progress  and  power 
of  argument — of  argument  conducted  according  to 
the  frivolous  and  arbitrary  rules  of  the  prevailing 
philosophy  of  the  times ;  and  it  was  only  deductions 
thus  wrought  out  that  they  would  consent  to  dignify 
with  the  name  of  wisdom. 

To  a  people  thus  intent  upon  the  exercise  of  in- 
tellectual acuteness  and  skill,  every  doctrine  was 
sneered  at  as  mean  and  contemptible  that  was  not 
introduced  by  a  splendid  parade  of  rhetoric,  sus- 
tained by  the  subtleness  of  logic,  and  adorned  by 
the  flowers  of  eloquence.  In  this  sense  it  was  that 
the  "  Greeks  sought  after  wisdom."  To  both  of 
these  classes  of  persons,  the  Gospel  of  Christ  could 
not  have  been  otherwise  than  distasteful.  "We 
preach  Christ  crucified,  to  the  Jews  a  stumbling- 
block,  and  to  the  Greeks  foolishness."  The  Jews, 
from,  the  promises  made  to  Abraham,  from  the 
types  of  the  law  and  the  predictions  of  the  Pro- 
phets, had  cherished  the  faith  of  a  Messiah.  But 
it  was  a  faith  colored  and  formed  by  the  impure 
aspirations  of  worldly  ambition.  Departing  from 
the  infallible  standard  of  Divine  revelation,  and 
listening  to  the  uncertain  reports  of  human  tradi- 
tion, they  cherished  a  fond  and  foolish  expectation 
that  the  Redeemer  of  Israel  would  soon  appear  from 
the  skies  as  a  mighty  and  overpowering  monarch, 


340  The  Atonement. 

clothed  in  the  resistless  panoply  of  Divine  strength, 
and  going  forth  to  rescue  His  people  from  their  dis- 
graceful vassalage  to  the  Tloman  power,  and  to  make 
Judea  the  seat  of  universal  empire.  Such  were  the 
swelling  and  lofty  anticipations  of  a  vain  ambition. 
When,  therefore,  they  were  required  to  receive  one 
as  their  Messiah  who  did  not  descend  visibly  and 
miraculously  from  the  skies;  who  M^as  not  raised 
in  a  moment  of  time  and  by  the  word  of  Omnipo- 
tence from  the  dust  of  the  earth ;  who  was  not  even 
born  in  a  palace,  and  surrounded  with  the  pomp  of 
royalty  ;  who  did  not  move  in  the  lustre  of  trium- 
phant power  towards  temporal  dominion  and  suprem- 
acy, but,  on  the  contrary,  coming  into  the  world 
among  the  lowest  of  the  low,  dwelt  always  in  the 
vale  of  obscurity,  and  preached  humility,  meekness, 
patience,  and  charity  ;  who  called  them  to  purity 
and  holiness — not  to  earthly  power  and  dominion  ; 
although  they  were  filled  with  astonishment  at 
the  excellence  of  His  doctrine  and  the  greatness 
of  His  works,  and  were  led  to  exclaim  in  won- 
der, "Whence  hath  this  man  this  wisdom?"  j^et 
it  very  soon  recurs  to  them  that  this  is  "the  car- 
penter's son" — "and  they  were  offended  at  Him." 
Even  His  own  chosen  disciples,  whenever  He  began 
to  speak  to  them  of  His  approaching  suffering 
and  death,  immediately  in  their  darkened  and 
worldly  minds  began  to  rebuke  Him,  saying,  "  Be 
it  far  from  thee.  Lord ;  this  shall  not  be  unto  thee." 
Amid  all  of  their  discouragements,  while  their  faith 
was  staggering  and  their  hopes  drooping,  there  was 


TTie  Atonement.  341 

still  one  bare  possibility  with  which  they  seemed  to 
have  fed  and  flattered  their  pride ;  and  that  was, 
that  as  the  sun  is  often  seen  to  break  out  suddenly, 
and  to  shed  its  unexpected  glories  upon  the  world 
from  the  dark  bosom  of  a  cloud,  so  this,  their  long- 
looked-for  Messiah,  would  yet  emerge  suddenly  from 
the  cloud  of  contempt  and  poverty  in  which  He  had 
chosen  to  enshroud  Himself,  and,  taking  up  the  scep- 
tre of  David,  He  would  wield  it  in  the  pomp  of 
majesty  over  prostrate  kingdoms  and  kindred  of  the 
earth.  But  when  at  last  they  beheld  Him  betrayed, 
insulted,  covered  with  contumely  and  derision,  con- 
demned, nailed  on  a  cross,  expiring  in  agony,  and 
actually  buried  in  the  tomb — then  indeed  were 
they  overwhelmed  with  despondency.  Their  proud 
hopes  were  buried  with  Jesus ;  for  they  trusted  that 
it  had  been  He  who  should  have  redeemed  Israel. 

Thus  was  it  that  Christ  crucified  was  "  to  the 
Jews  a  stumbling-block."  But  again,  my  brethren, 
it  is  said  that  the  doctrine  of  Christ  crucified  was  to 
the  Greeks  foolishness.  Yea,  brethren,  to  a  people 
founding  their  faith  in  the  religion  of  nature ;  con- 
fiding in  the  abstruse  and  subtle  speculations  of 
human  reason ;  entertaining  no  expectation  of  a 
Messiah,  and  strangers  to  the  hope  of  a  divine  reve- 
lation, the  story  of  the  life  of  Jesus  might  well  ap- 
pear as  a  tale  of  idle  romance.  That  men  should 
look  for  the  resurrection  of  the  bod}^  and  an  immor- 
tality of  existence  from  the  power  of  a  being  who 
was  born  in  penury,  lived  in  suffering,  and  died  in 
ignominy,  was  a  conceit  of  credulity  too  extravagant 


342  The  AtoneTuent. 

for  philosophic  thought.     Thus  was  it  tliat  the  cross 
of  Christ  was  to  the  Greeks  foolishness. 

Brethren,  we  come  now  to  show  that  the  cross  of 
Christ  ought  not  to  have  been  a  stumbling-block  to 
the  Jews,  nor  to  the  Greeks  foolishness.  The  onlj 
mirror  into  which  the  Jews  could  possibly  look  for 
the  features  of  the  Saviour's  character,  was  the  book 
of  the  Prophets ;  and  what  shadow  of  ground  had 
they  for  supposing  that  the  Messiah  was  to  appear 
as  a  temporal  and  triumphant  prince?  The  proph- 
ets nowhere  say  that  He  would  appear  in  pomp 
and  splendor,  but  rather  that  "  He  should  have  no 
form  nor  comeliness ; "  that  He  should  be  a  "  man 
of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief."  The  proph- 
ets nowhere  say  that  He  should  be  followed  with 
the  respect  and  applause  of  the  world,  or  that  He 
should  be  exempt  from  reproach  and  suffering;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  they  most  expressly  declare  that  He 
should  be  "  despised  and  rejected  of  men  ;  "  that  He 
should  "give  His  cheeks  to  shame."  The  prophets 
nowhere  say  that  the  Messiah  should  escape  death, 
the  common  lot  of  humanity  ;  but,  on  the  contrary, 
that  He  should  be  "  made  like  unto  His  brethren  ;  " 
that  He  should  be  "  led  like  a  laml)  to  the  slaughter, 
and  as  a  sheep  before  the  shearers  is  dumb,  so  He 
opened  not  His  mouth."  He  would  be  "  taken  from 
the  prison  and  the  judgment,  and  be  cut  off  out  of 
the  land  of  the  living."  But  the  Jews,  careless  of 
these  minute  and  distinct  intimations  of  the  prophets, 
require  a  miraculous  sign  from  Heaven  for  the  con- 
firmation of  their  faith.     Kow,  was  not  this  afforded 


The  Atonement.  343 

them,  and  in  tlieir  own  way,  too?  What  greater  evi- 
dence could  possibly  be  given  of  the  immediate  in- 
terposition of  the  power  of  God  than  was  afforded 
in  the  birth,  the  life,  the  death,  and  the  resurrection 
of  Christ  ? 

His  whole  existence  was  a  continued  series  of  mi- 
raculous signs,  at  least  as  conspicuous,  brilliant,  and 
convincing,  as  those  by  which  Moses  of  old  con- 
firmed the  truth  of  his  commission,  and  ought,  to 
every  reasonaljle  understanding,  to  have  carried 
home  the  demonstration  that  Christ  was  the  "  Son 
of  God  "  with  power. 

So,  too,  we  say  that  the  cross  of  Christ  ought  not 
to  have  been  foolishness  to  the  Greeks.  Turn  to  the 
doctrines  of  Jesus,  in  which  He  points  to  the  perfec- 
tions of  God,  the  certainty  of  a  future  state,  and  the 
way  by  which  that  harvest  of  glory  was  to  l)e  won 
by  man.  Turn  to  the  precepts  in  which  he  prohibits 
pride,  injustice,  malevolence,  intemperance,  and  cru- 
elty, and  in  sweetest  accents  enjoins  humility,  recti- 
tude, moderation,  humanity,  and  universal  love — 
and  then  tell  me,  where  are  the  marks  of  fatuity  or 
folly?  Are  they  not  founded  upon  the  soundest 
principles  of  true  wisdom?  Are  they  not  stamped 
with  the  true  excellence  of  Divinity  ?  Are  they  not 
in  every  way  worthy  of  God  ?  every  way  suited  to 
the  nature  of  man  ? 

The  SUFFERINGS  of  Christ  ought  not  to  have  been 
derided  by  the  Greeks,  for  their  own  revered  teach- 
ers of  wisdom  had  taught  that  suffering  was  not  only 
consistent  with  innocence,  but  necessary  even  to  illus- 


344  The  Atonement. 

trate  lessons  in  bigli  virtue.  Socrates  and  Plato, 
Aristotle  and  Epictetus,  had  long  before  agreed 
"  that  the  greatest  friends  of  the  gods  might,  in  this 
state  of  promiscuous  distribution,  be  exposed  to  the 
greatest  calamities.  Naj,  if  one  were  to  be  a  re- 
former of  the  world,  he  must  of  necessity  appear  in 
the  form  of  a  sufferer;  because  without  suffering 
there  could  be  no  display  of  patience,  magnanimity, 
and  resignation." 

Even  the  death  of  Christ,  when  considered  in 
connection  with  his  resurrection  from  the  grave,  had 
surely  notliing  in  it  of  foolishness ;  for  although  to 
hope  for  immortality  through  the  power  of  a  man 
who  was  himself  under  the  dominion  of  death  might 
be  a  weak  delusion,  yet  the  hope  of  immortality — 
founded  on  the  strong  assurance  of  one  who  had 
claimed  divinity  for  Himself,  and  then  suffered 
Himself  to  be  crucified,  that  all  nations  might  at- 
test His  truth  b}'  the  exhibition  of  the  most  alarm- 
ing prodigies,  and  then  that  He  might  evince  His 
own  power  over  death  by  raising  Himself  from  the 
grave — is  a  sentiment  that  has  no  alliance  with  ab- 
surdity, because  it  not  only  evinces  His  own  supe- 
riority over  death,  but  at  the  same  time  yields  us 
the  most  irresistible  confirmation  of  the  certainty  of 
future  existence. 

Thus  have  I  proved,  my  brethren,  that  as  Christ 
ought  to  have  been  to  the  Jews  the  "  power  "  of  God, 
so  ought  He  to  have  been  to  the  Greeks  the  "  wis- 
dom" of  God.  Thus,  too,  do  Ave  implore  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God  to  enable  us  to  prove  to  every  heart 


The  Atonement.  345 

amongst  you  which  has  been  called  to  know  the  way 
of  life,  that  to  us,  too,  Jesus  is  the  power  of  God, 
and  the  wisdom  of  God.  He  is  the  power  of  God, 
inasmuch  as  His  works  are  the  glory  of  old,  and  His 
works  of  grace  and  peace  in  every  believing  heart 
throughout  all  time  evince  the  omniscience  of  God. 
He  is  the  wisdom  of  God,  inasmuch  as  the  glorious 
plan  which  His  gospel  reveals  for  the  salvation  of 
our  guilty  race  from  the  curse  of  a  violated  law, 
while  it  preserves  the  harmony  of  Jehovah's  attri- 
butes, is  stamped  with  the  seal  of  Jehovah's  wisdom. 
Now,  that  the  pure  and  wise  Author  of  the  uni- 
verse should  have  imposed  permanent  laws  upon 
His  moral,  as  we  know  that  He  has  upon  His  natu- 
ral creation,  and  that  one  of  these  laws  should  be 
the  eternal  difference  between  right  and  wrong,  in 
their  nature  and  in  their  consequences,  is  a  proposi- 
tion so  far  from  being  incredible,  that  the  under- 
standing must  assent  to  it  at  once  as  an  obvious 
truth.  And  if  this  be  so,  then  it  surely  may  be 
more  consistent  with  the  attributes  of  an  infinitely 
moral  being  to  attach  irremissible  penalties  to  sin, 
even  though  He  may  choose  to  pay  those  penalties 
Himself,  rather  than  to  adopt  the  opposite  alterna- 
tive of  destroying  the  primary  and  eternal  distinc- 
tion between  right  and  wrong,  by  attaching  rewards 
to  both  vice  and  virtue.  By  what  possible  arrange- 
ment, other  than  that  of  the  Christian  atonement, 
could  those  eternal  laws  of  rifflit  and  wrong  be  left 
to  operate,  without  involving  the  direct  personal 
responsibility  and  consequent  ruin  of  the  whole 
15* 


346  Tkc  Atonement. 

human  race  ?  If,  then,  Almighty  wisdom  has  con- 
trived a  plan  by  which  our  nature,  with  all  its  fear- 
ful phenomena  of  evil,  may  be  finally  rendered  per- 
fect and  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  eternal  purity,  it 
surely  is  not  for  us  to  quarrel  with  a  system  of  such 
extreme  benevolence,  merely  because  it  attains  its 
object  M'ithout  indulging  our  impatient  curiosity  as 
to  the  mode  by  which  that  object  is  reached. 

The  great  mystery  of  God's  creation  is  unquestion- 
ably the  existence  of  evil,  the  deep  stain  of  sin,  and 
consequent  misery,  which  has  penetrated  into  the 
very  essence  of  every  element ;  and  that  mystery  the 
wise,  the  good,  and  the  thoughtful  have  in  all  ages 
attempted  in  vain  to  solve,  "Wretched  man  that 
I  am ;  who  shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this 
death  ? "  is  the  agonizing  cry  not  only  of  the  Christian 
Paul,  but  of  every  human  being  who  reflects  at  all 
upon  the  disease  and  degradation  of  his  moral  nature; 
and  the  remedies  suggested  have  been  as  many  and 
various  as  the  caprices  of  a  perverted  and  terror- 
stricken  fancy. 

The  indolent  and  careless  among  you,  my  brethren, 
may  strive  to  forget  this.  The  obstinate  and  hard- 
ened may  deny  it.  The  timid  may  labor  to  charm 
it  awa}^  by  narrow  conceits  and  superstitious  devices. 
But  the  enlightened  and  faithful  Christian  will  neither 
close  his  ears  to  the  voice  that  speaks  from  Heaven, 
nor  shut  his  eyes  to  the  light  with  which  God  would 
illumine  him,  nor  harden  his  heart  against  the  en- 
trancing motives  by  which  a  Father's  tenderness 
would  win  him  to  obedience;  but,  cherishing  the 


The  Atonement.  347 

deepest  conviction  of  the  infirmity  and  ntter  helpless- 
ness of  his  nature,  he  will  look  for  his  final  restitntion 
to  purity,  happiness,  and  perfection,  not  to  himself,  not 
to  the  efforts  of  beings  weak,  ignorant,  and  contami- 
nated like  himself,  but  to  the  united  power,  purity,  and 
wisdom  of  an  iNFiNn'E  agent — to  the  purifying  influ- 
ence of  God's  Holy  Spirit — to  the  saving  strength  of  a 
Divine  atonement — yea,  to  the  sublime  and  awful  doc- 
trine of  "Christ  crucified" — of  Christ,  my  brethren, 
the  power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God !  Let  no 
man  say  that  he  is  not  conscious  of  criminality,  and 
therefore  cannot  admit  the  necessity  of  the  interven- 
tion of  a  Redeemer,  I  know  full  well  the  frightful 
lengths  to  which  the  deceitfulness  of  our  selfish  hearts 
would  carry  us.  I  know  full  well  that,  entangled  as 
we  are  in  the  pollutions  of  the  flesh,  our  souls  too 
easily  become  reconciled  to  the  grossness  that  sur- 
rounds us,  and  we  become  insensible  to  the  evil 
which  we  see  and  the  evil  which  we  do. 

We  gaze  so  habitually  upon  sin,  that,  if  it  does  not 
become  beautiful  in  our  eyes,  we  at  least  lose  all 
sense  of  its  deformity.  But,  notwithstanding  all  this, 
there  is  still  one  appalling  truth,  which  I  am  sure  is 
as  strongly  demonstrable  in  the  hourly  experience  of 
every  human  being  as  it  is  clearly  written  in  the 
whole  history  of  our  race,  and  explicitly  taught  by 
Scripture — and  that  is,  that  "  the  heart  of  man  is  evil 
from  his  youth."  With,  then,  the  full  and  fearful  his- 
tory of  man's  moral  imperfections  spread  out  before 
lis,  shall  we  deny  the  doctrine  of  our  atonement  and 
redemption  ?     With  the  disease  before  us,  which,  in 


348  The  Atonement. 

its  full  and  unchecked  virulence,  may  consume  every 
soul  of  man,  shall  we  reject  the  only  theory  which 
has  ever  suggested  a  probable  reason  for  its  existence, 
or  pointed  us  to  an  adequate  remedy  for  its  cure? 

You  may,  if  you  please,  in  blindness  and  caprice, 
abjure  the  atonement  of  Christ;  but  you  will  not,  in 
60  doing,  relieve  yourself  in  the  least  from  the  per- 
plexity connected  with  the  present  condition  of  our 
moral  nature.  We  cannot  move  one  step  upon  the 
surface  of  this  sin-deluged  world,  without  finding 
ourselves  involved  in  the  depths  of  a  most  mysterious 
problem,  which  we  can  only  get  rid  of  by  falling  back 
into  the  horrors  of  infidelity,  or  else  by  advancing 
forward  to  the  light  that  streams  upon  us  from  the 
Cross  of  Christ ! 

In  conclusion :  to  the  man  who  tells  me  that  he 
needs  no  Eedeemer,  I  will  say  that  my  answer  is  one 
not  so  much  of  argument  as  of  individual,  practical 
experiment.  I  will  begin  by  asking  him  to  meditate 
much  and  deeply  upon  the  ennobling  convictions  of 
the  infinitely  pure,  holy,  and  beautiful,  which,  as 
hidden  seeds  of  Paradise,  are  to  be  found  in  every 
heart;  then  let  him  again  retire  to  his  closet,  and 
meekly  implore  his  Maker  to  give  him  light — to  help 
his  unbelief — to  correct  his  faith,  if  it  be  wrong — to 
teach  and  soften  his  heart,  if  it  be  hard;  then  let 
him  from  hour  to  hour  faithfully  scrutinize  the  mo- 
tives of  his  very  best  actions,  and  measure  those 
actions  by  the  tremendous  capabilities  of  his  immor- 
tal nature;  and  then  I  will  ask  him  whether  he 
does  not  begin  to  discover  more  of  moral  deficiency, 


The  Atonement.  349 

more  of  the  moral  positive  leprosy  of  sin  adhering  to 
him,  than  he  had  before  the  slightest  conception  of; 
and  if  he  will  but  go  thus  far,  I  fear  not  but  that, 
under  the  overwhelming  consciousness  of  his  inabil- 
ity, he  will  rejoice  to  seek  for  help  where  only  help 
is  to  be  found.  He  will  seek  for  it  at  the  very  foun- 
tain-head of  holiness,  purity,  and  strength.  Yea, 
he  will  seek  for  it  from  a  Divine  Redeemer ;  he  will 
seek  for  it  from  "  Christ,  the  power  of  God  and  the 
wisdom  of  God ! " 


THE  DUTY  OF  OBSERVING  THE  SACRAMENTS. 


"  ^V^losoever  shall  confess  me  before  rneji,  him  will  I  confess  before 
my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.'" 

MaU.  10  <A,  ZM. 

O  attentive  reader  of  the  Scriptures  can 
avoid  being  struck  with  the  frequency 
with  which  the  Saviour  insists  upon  an 
^  OPEN  CONFESSION  of  the  sciitiments  wc  may 
entertain  of  His  character.  And  it  will  he  well  to 
remember,  that  the  necessity  of  this  confession  was 
thus  sternly  insisted  on  at  a  time  when  it  was  certain 
to  be  attended  with  public  derision,  and  to  be  at  the 
imminent  peril  of  property,  liberty,  and  life  !  Noth- 
ing can  more  clearly  tell  us  of  the  high  estimate  in 
which  the  character  of  Christ  is  to  be  held,  and  of 
the  iniinite  superiority  of  the  truths  which  He  came 
to  reveal  to  everything  connected  with  this  world. 

From  the  words  of  the  text,  I  will  first  endeavor 
to  show  to  you  what  I  conceive  our  Saviour  to  have 
meant  by  confessing  Him  before  men — and  from 
which  confession  we  may  hope  to  be  acknowledged 
by  Him  before  His  Father  in  heaven. 

Now,  to  constitute  this  saving  confession,  it  is 
surely  not  enough  simply  to  admit  that  He  had  an 


The  Duty  of  Ohserving  the  Sacraments.     351 

existence  upon  this  earth  ;  and  that  the  system  of 
religion  which  takes  its  name  from  Him  was  actually 
dictated  by  Him — but  to  confess  Christ  before  men 
is  to  acknowledge  our  belief  in  all  the  essential  at- 
tributes of  the  character  in  which  He  is  revealed  to 
us, — the  character  which  he  arrogated,  and  which  he 
supported  by  exhibitions  of  unearthly  wisdom  and 
omnipotent  power.  It  is  to  confess  Him  as  the  im- 
age of  the  invisible  Divinity — as  "  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh,"  by  whom  all  things  were  created  that  are 
in  heaven  and  on  the  earth,  visible  and  invisible — 
who  is  before  all  things,  and  by  whom  all  things 
consist.  Then  we  must  confess  that  God  was  thus 
in  Christ,  tliat  He  might  reconcile  the  world  unto 
Himself— that  there  is  no  other  name  given  under 
Heaven,  but  the  name  of  Jesus,  whereby  we  can  be 
saved — and  that  on  the  merits  of  His  full  and  sufii- 
cient  atonement  we  are  prepared  to  rely  1 

It  will  thus  be  perceived  that  to  confess  Christ  be- 
fore men,  with  the  effect  upon  which  the  Scriptures 
insist,  we  must  acknowledge  Him  as  that  Divine 
Being  who,  according  to  the  Scriptures,  breathed 
into  us  the  breath  of  life ;  who  has  been  our  con- 
stant preserver ;  who  took  upon  Him  our  nature, 
redeemed  us  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself,  and  who 
steadily  sends  to  us  the  influences  of  His  own  Holy 
Spirit,  to  strengthen  within  us  whatsoever  is  weak, 
and  to  sanctify  within  us  wdiatsoever  is  impure.  It 
is  thus  that  we  acknowledge  that  His  presence  is 
ever  with  those  who  ask  it,  to  bless,  preserve,  and 
defend   them;   to  instruct   them   by  His  word,  to 


352     The  Duty  of  Ohserving  the  Sacraments. 

edify  them  through  His  ordinances,  and  to  comfort 
them  by  His  promises  of  glory,  so  that  they  may  be 
entirely  prepared  to  commend  tlieir  departing  spirits 
to  His  most  holy  keeping. 

We  confess,  too,  that  He  alone  can  raise  our  vile 
body,  and  make  it  like  His  own  glorious  body, 
and  that  He  alone  will  pronounce  that  last  and  ir- 
reversible sentence  by  wdiich  we  will  be  admitted 
to  realms  of  transporting  glory,  or  else  condemned 
to  an  eternal  exclusion  from  the  light  and  comfort 
of  our  God  ! 

In  short,  we  must  confess  our  Christ  to  be  the 
beginning  and  the  end — tlie  Author  of  all  blessings, 
past,  present,  or  in  prospect — the  one  great  object 
of  reverence  and  love  ! 

While  we  confess  Christ  with  this  pre-eminence, 
let  it  not  for  one  moment  be  supposed  that  we  dero- 
gate from  the  glory  due  only  to  the  one  Supreme 
God,  the  Father;  because  it  is  the  will  of  God, 
expressly  declared,  "  that  all  men  should  honor  the 
Son,  even  as  they  honor  the  Father,"  The  "  Father 
judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed  all  judgment 
unto  the  Son ; "  and  of  the  Son  it  is  declared  that 
"  He  thought  it  no  robbery  to  be  equal  with  God." 
It  is  the  end  of  all  offices  sustained  by  the  Son,  ulti- 
mately to  glorify  the  Father.  "  Father,"  said  He, 
"glorify  thy  Son,  that  thy  Son  may  glorify  tliee." 
His  mediatorial  work  is  intrusted  to  Him  for  that 
purpose.  It  was  intrusted  to  Him  that  He  might 
repair  the  ruins  made  by  sin  in  the  kingdom  of  His 
Father,  and  restore  the  creatures  He  had  made  to 


The  Duty  of  Ohsermng  the  Sacrmnents.     353 

the  end  of  their  creation.  When  this  shall  be  ac- 
complished, "  then  Cometh  the  end,  when  He  shall 
have  delivered  up  the  kingdom  to  God,  even  the 
Father ;  "  "then  shall  the  Son  also  Himself  be  subject 
unto  Him  that  put  all  things  under  Him,  that  God 
may  be  all  in  all."  (1st  Cor.  24th,  28th.)  The 
economy  of  grace  will  then  be  superseded.  The 
ministrations  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
cease ;  and  the  Godhead,  more  plainly  revealed  in 
unity,  will  rule  the  wide  universe  of  love ! 

In  the  second  place  let  it  be  remarked,  that  such 
a  confession  of  Christ  as  this,  such  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  Him  as  our  Creator,  Sanctifier,  and  Saviour, 
implies,  at  the  same  time,  an  acknowledgment  of 
our  sinfulness,  feebleness,  and  utter  inability,  in  and 
of  ourselves,  to  please  or  to  conciliate  our  offended 
God.  We  confess,  in  short,  our  only  hope  of  salva- 
tion is  through  the  righteousness  and  atonement  of 
Christ,  and  such  fitness  for  the  society  of  the  saints 
as  the  spirit  of  Christ  may  enable  us  to  attain.  But 
in  our  best  estate  we  must  still  feel  that  we  are  sin- 
ners ;  and  we  can  only  hope  to  be  saved  as  sinners. 
We  can  never  approach  the  mercy-seat  of  God  in 
any  confidence  derived  from  our  own  merits,  or  in 
any  strength  imparted  by  our  own  good  works. 
There  is  no  one  of  us  that  liveth  and  sinneth  not. 
There  is  no  one  of  us  who  can  offer  such  a  measure 
of  righteousness  to  that  God  in  whose  sight  the 
very  heavens  are  unclean,  that  it  is  possible  for  Him 
to  smile  upon.  Yet  we  know  tliat  He  will  smile 
upon  us  if  we  will  only  approach  Him  in  the  way 


354     The  Duty  of  Observing  the  Sacraments. 

that  He  hath  marked  out  for  us  ;  if  we  will  but 
come  confessing  our  unworthiness,  but  pleading  the 
sufficiency  of  Him  who  for  our  sakes  has  fulfilled  all 
righteousness. 

It  is,  then,  my  brethren,  the  truth  from  God  that 
we  are  saved  "by  faith"  in  Christ  Jesus;  and  it  is 
strictly  necessary  that  we  should  confess  this  to  be 
true.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  of  the  very  last 
importance  that  the  nature  of  this  faith  be  neither 
misunderstood  nor  misrepresented.  It  is,  indeed, 
most  sacredly  true  that  we  are  saved  by  faith  in 
Christ ;  because  we  most  surely  believe  that  if  Christ 
had  not  visited  us  in  His  humility  and  in  His  power, 
it  is  impossible  that  we  should  ever  have  been  saved. 
But  then  this  faith,  the  only  saving  faith,  invariably 
works  by  love,  and  purifies  the  heart.  Good  works 
are  its  necessary  fruits ;  there  is  no  faith  rightly  un- 
derstood where  they  do  not  abound.  It  is  the  neces- 
sary result  of  the  Christian's  faith,  that  he  strives 
after  holiness ;  because  he  well  knows  that  without 
it  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord.  It  is  the  object  of  all 
his  solicitude  to  be  delivered  from  the  corruptions 
that  are  in  the  world,  so  that  ultimately,  with  the 
divine  image  restored  to  his  bosom,  he  may  become 
with  Christ  a  partaker  of  the  imperishable  nature  of 
divinity.  He  consequently  hungers  and  thirsts  after 
righteousness  ;  he  presses  on  after  it  with  the  earnest- 
ness of  a  man  who  feels  that  he  will  perish  unless  he 
attains  it.  But  to  the  last  he  will  feel  his  infirmities 
pressing  heavily  upon  him ;  and  he  will  rejoice  to 
bring  the  feeble  measure  of  his  attainments  to  the 


The  Duty  of  Observing  the  Sacrcmients.     355 

footstool  of  the  only  Deliverer,  and  in  deep  humility 
to  confess  his  utter  unprofitableness.  Yea,  my  breth- 
ren, our  Bible  tells  us  to  "provide  things  honest  in 
the  sight  of  all  men,"  to  be  "  a  peculiar  people,  zeal- 
ous of  good  works."  It  tells  us,  too  plainly  to  be 
ever  mistaken,  that  stainless  purity  of  intention 
should  so  mark  the  doings  of  every  Christian,  that 
his  character  as  "  a  living  epistle  may  be  read  of  all 
men !  "  It  is  true  that  there  is  much  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  devout  follower  of  Christ  which  the  eyes 
of  them  that  are  without  can  never  see,  and  there- 
fore can  never  sympathize  with.  There  is  the  sooth- 
ing and  consoling  influence  of  devotion  ;  there  is 
the  transporting  rapture  imparted  by  his  vision  of 
faith;  there  is  the  sweet  serenity  with  which  the 
spirit  enables  him  to  sustain  the  painful  vicissitudes 
of  life  ;  there  is  an  utter  distrust  of  all  the  cheating 
vanities  of  the  world,  and  an  unyielding  confidence 
in  the  promises  of  the  Gospel.  There  is  all  that  is 
unseen  and  which  is  eternal  in  the  religion  of  Jesus 
— which  the  world  may  sneer  at  and  denounce  as 
visionary,  but  which  the  Christian  feels  to  be  real — 
which  he  feeds  upon  as  the  nutriment  of  his  spiritual 
life,  and  cherishes  as  the  most  sacred  and  sublime  of 
all  the  realities  of  his  being !  On  the  other  hand, 
there  is  much  in  the  life  of  the  Christian,  while 
living  upon  the  earth,  that  comes  directly  under  the 
observation  of  all  men  ;  and  he  is  most  sadly  false  to 
himself,  and  false  to  his  Master's  cause,  if  in  every- 
thing that  he  is  called  to  do,  his  uprightness  is  not  so 
transparent   that  no  cloud  can  darken  it,  and  no 


356     The  Duty  of  Ohsermng  the  Sacraments. 

heart  can  refrain  in  honesty  to  yield  its  admiration. 
Indeed,  my  brethren,  it  becomes  us  to  remember, 
that  although  the  eye  of  the  world  can  never  pene- 
trate the  recesses  of  the  heart,  nor  read  the  capi- 
tals in  which  we  have  written  there  the  precious 
truths  of  our  faith,  yet  that  eye  is  always  fastened 
with  a  keen,  a  scrutinizing,  and  a  malignant  jealousy 
upon  the  doings  of  our  lives.  Men  will  not  now  - 
offer  their  homage  to  the  cut  and  color  of  our  gar- 
ments, or  to  the  unmeaning  sanctity  of  our  counte- 
nances— nor,  unless  they  can  see  that  we  are  living 
without  offence,  that  we  are  frank,  amiable,  and 
guiltless  in  social  and  in  public  life ;  that  we  are 
stainless  in  honor,  disinterested  in  justice,  alert  in 
beneficence,  and  unwearied  in  all  the  virtues  which 
can  bless  and  embellish  society — unless,  I  say,  with 
all  our  pretensions  to  an  unearthly  guidance,  w^e  ex- 
hibit nothing  better  in  our  lives  than  the  low  and 
brutal  spirits  of  the  earth,  then  it  cannot  be  other- 
wise than  that  i\\e.y  should  regard  us  with  feelings 
of  unmingled  detestation  and  disgust ! 

I  have  now  evinced  to  you  how  it  is  that  Christ 
our  Saviour  requires  us  to  confess  Him  before  men  ; 
and  I  have  also  unfolded  the  obligation  that  rests 
upon  us,  in  consequence  of  our  relation  to  Christ,  to 
the  exei'cise  of  a  most  sleepless  vigilance  in  cultivating 
the  most  stainless  purity  of  intention,  the  nicest  chas- 
tity of  principle,  and  the  loftiest  aims  in  active  virtue. 

But  again,  my  brethren,  if  we  are  willing  to  con- 
fess Christ  before  men,  we  surely  should  be  willing 
to  adopt   those  methods  of  confessing   Him  which 


The  Duty  of  Ohserving  the  Sacraments.     357 

the  present  condition  of  His  religion  renders  prac- 
ticable and  proper.  At  the  present  day,  the  only 
direct  and  unequivocal  mode  of  professing  the  Chris- 
tian faith — the  only  mode  of  doing  so  which  is  at 
once  public,  and  yet  unostentatious — is  by  observing 
the  appointments  and  the  ordinances  which  are 
peculiar  to  Christianity.  The  mere  circumstance  of 
our  being  born  in  a  Christian  land,  or  of  our  being 
occasionally  found  in  public  assemblages  of  Chris- 
tians, is  surely  not  enough  to  make  us  Christians; 
but  if  we  acknowledge  the  authority  of  Christ,  by 
submitting  ourselves  or  our  children  to  the  ordinance 
which  He  has  appointed  as  the  door  of  entrance  into 
His  household  upon  earth,  then  do  we  profess  our- 
selves to  be  His  followers. 

Why  should  we  observe  the  sacrament  of  baptism, 
if  it  be  not  in  obedience  to  the  requirements  of 
Christ?  And  do  his  requirements  go  no  farther 
than  that?  If  we  confess  that  His  laws  and  His 
commandments  are  obligatory  in  one  case,  are  they 
not  equally  so  in  all  cases  ?  Is  not  the  observance 
of  the  Lord's  Supper  a  command  of  Christ,  plainly 
to  be  read?  Do  you  not  recognize  it  as  an  ordi- 
nance of  His  appointment  ?  Why,  then,  should  you 
neglect  it  ?  I  appeal  to  you  as  to  wise  men,  and  I 
ask  you  to  give  me  one  solitary  reason  why  it  is  that 
a  rite  so  distinctly  enjoined,  and  so  expressive  of 
attachment  and  discipleship,  should  be  treated  by 
you  with  indifference?  My  brethren,  this  strange 
inconsistency  can  only  arise  from  heedlessness,  or 
from   the  want   of  information,  or  from   mistaken 


358     The  Duty  of  Ohserving  the  Sacraments. 

scruples  as  to  the  nature  of  the  sacrament,  and  the 
degree  of  preparation  necessary  for  a  worthy  obser- 
vance of  it. 

My  brethren,  if  the  obligations  imposed  by  the 
authority  of  Christ  and  the  profession  of  Christian 
privileges  be  fearful  and  sacred — if  eternity,  with  its 
awful  associations,  can  excite  our  hopes — if  the  eter- 
nal Spirit  of  God  ever  gave  energy  to  the  voice  of 
His  warning  minister — you  will  at  once  be  aroused 
from  the  stupor  of  indifference  ;  you  will  awake  from 
the  deadly  sleep  of  criminal  neglect ;  your  plea  of 
heedlessness  shall  avail  you  no  longer. 

But  is  it  of  the  want  of  information  that  you  com- 
plain ?  Then  let  me  remind  you  that  the  sources  of 
instruction  are  on  every  side  of  you  ;  the  light  of 
knowledge  is  shining  broadly  upon  your  path ;  the 
Master  will  not  much  longer  delay  His  coming,  and 
He  will  require  you  to  account  for  the  talents  He 
has  intrusted  to  you  for  improvement !  Remember, 
oh  !  I  charge  you  to  remember,  that  if  the  door  be 
once  shut  upon  you  in  "  the  outer  darkness,"  it  is 
shut  forever  !  No  cries  for  light  will  then  be  heard  ! 
Tlie  darkness  which  will  envelop  you  will  be  more 
intolerable  than  an  everlasting  night  of  death  and 
the  grave  !  What,  then,  I  say  unto  you,  I  say  unto 
all — Watch  !  Arise,  my  brethren,  and  let  us  be 
stirring ! 

But  again  :  what  is  there  in  the  nature  of  this 
sacrament,  or  in  the  preparation  necessary  for  its 
observance,  that  you  should  refuse  to  observe  it?  Do 
you  tell  me  that  it  is  a  solemn  thing  ?     I  grant  you 


The  Duty  of  Ohserving  the  Sacraments.     359 

that  it  is  so.  But  is  it  less  interesting  or  less  impor- 
tant upon  that  account?  Prayer  is  a  solemn  tiling — 
but  can  it  therefore  be  securely  neglected?  The 
public  worship  of  the  Creator  is  a  very  solemn  thing 
— but  can  we  therefore  with  entire  immunity  for- 
sake the  assemblino;  of  ourselves  together?  Death 
is  unquestionably  among  the  most  solemn  of  all  pos- 
sible subjects  of  human  thought — but  are  we  there- 
fore to  neglect  a  wise  preparation  for  the  hour  of  our 
departure  hence? 

Solemnity,  my  brethren,  is  one  thing,  and  revolt- 
ing frightfulness  is  altogether  another  thing.  Why 
is  it  that  you  will  insist  upon  clothing  this  most 
interesting  solemnity  in  colors  of  terrific  gloom  ? 
Surely,  there  was  nothing  like  the  thunders  of  Sinai 
attending  its  institution.  No  frightful  lightning 
flashed  around  the  mild  Lawgiver,  while  in  tender- 
ness and  in  majesty  He  established  it.  There  was 
nothing  of  gloom  or  of  awful  mystery  connected 
with  it,  but  everything  was  social,  affectionate,  and 
touching. 

The  first  Christians  do  not  seem  to  have  regarded 
it  as  appallingly  solemn,  for  they  as  regularly  ob- 
served it  as  they  regularly  assembled  themselves 
together  on  the  first  day  of  the  week. 

The  early  converts  at  Corinth  do  not  seem  to  have 
been  appalled  by  its  solemnity,  for  they  very  soon 
converted  it  into  a  riotous  festival.  The  Apostle 
Paul,  you  will  remember,  rebuked  them  with  sever- 
ity for  this  shameful  abuse — but  in  doing  so  he  does 
no  more  than  tell  them,  as  he  tells  us,  that  any  wilful 


360     The  Duty  of  Ohserning  the  Saeraments. 

and  monstrous  perversion  of  sacred  tilings  must 
surely  bring  us  a  righteous  condemnation. 

I  have  alluded  to  the  preparation  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  necessary  for  a  participation  in  this  feast. 
Here  then  you  will  permit  me  to  inquire,  how  is  it 
that  we  are  to  arrive  at  any  just  conclusions  upon  a 
question  so  nice  ?  And  who  is  it  that  Christ  has 
empowered  to  determine  the  precise  measure  of  pre- 
paration that  will  be  acceptable  to  Him  ?  Where,  I 
have  a  right  to  ask,  where  have  we  the  example  or 
the  authority  for  insisting  upon  this  formal  routine 
of  prepai'atory  discipline — of  sounding  this  loud  and 
long  note  of  preparation,  which  conceited  and 
fallible  men  have  in  these  .latter  times  affected  to 
esteem  so  important  ?  At  its  institution,  Christ 
administered  the  Sacrament  without  allowing  His 
disciples  any  time  for  preparation  ;  and  the  first  Chris- 
tians, by  weekly  observing  it,  evinced  clearly  that  the 
only  preparation  which  they  deemed  to  be  essential 
were  those  general  habits  of  holiness,  that  humility 
of  heart  before  God,  and  that  honesty  of  intention, 
which  every  one  who  recognizes  the  authority  should 
most  anxiously  cultivate. 

My  brethren,  let  me  here  entreat  you  to  pause 
amid  the  hurry  of  life,  to  reflect,  to  consult  your 
own  good  sense^  and  then  I  will  ask  you,  if  you  are 
unprepared  to  join  in  the  interesting  solemnity  to 
which  I  this  day  invite  you,  then  are  you  prepared 
to  present  yourselves  in  the  presence  of  God,  in  the 
solemn  and  public  worship  of  the  sanctuary  ?  Are 
you  prepared  to  present   yourselves  before   Him — 


The  Duty  of  Ohserving  the  Sacraments.     361 

He  and  you  alone  in  the  retirement  of  your  closet  ? 
Are  you  prepared  to  come,  with  the  children  of 
your  love  in  your  arms,  to  devote  them  to  His  ser- 
vice, and  to  implore  for  them  His  favor,  at  the  font 
of  baptism  ?     And,  last  of  all,  are  you  prepared  to 
leave  the  scenes  whicli  now  engross  and  delude  you, 
and  to  stand  with  your  heart  uncovered  in  God's 
awful   presence   in    the  world   beyond    the   grave  ? 
Alas  !  my  brethren,  if  you  are  not  prepared  to  join 
with   your   fellow-mortals   in    commemorating    the 
death  of  your  common  Saviour,  and  to  seek  in  the 
way  of  His  commandment  an  increase  of  spiritual 
light  and  strength,  how  can  you  rest  coolly  in  your 
estate  as  being  prepared  to  pass  through  the  gates  of 
death  into  the  unclouded  presence  of  God,  there  to 
join  with  the  saints  in  heaven  in  celebrating  the 
praises  of  the  Lamb  forever  ?     If  you  have  no  real 
desire  to  obey  the  commands  of  God,  then  all  ex- 
cuses are  idle.     But  if  you  really  do  profess  to  re- 
ceive the  religion  and  to  acknowledge  the  authority 
of  your  Redeemer,  then  must  you  remember  that 
your     Christian     obligations     remain    unchanged, 
whether  you  commune  or  whether  you  refrain  from 
communing.     They  are  not  in  the  least  degree  either 
increased  or  diminished  by  the  observation  of  the 
sacrament ;  but  your  conscience  will  tell  you  that 
you  have  something  more  to  answer  for  as  long  as  it 
continues  to  be  neglected. 

If  tenderness  of  conscience  restrain  you,  as  I 
know  that  it  restrains  so  many,  then  let  me  enti-eat 
you  to  remember  that  the  command  for  the  obser- 

16 


362     The  Duty  of  Ohsermng  the  Sacraments. 

vance  is  positive,  but  the  measure  of  preparation  or 
fitness  is  not  defined.  You  are  not  to  wait  until 
every  scruple  is  satisfied,  and  every  difficulty  van- 
ishes, before  you  come  to  the  simple  ordinance  which 
God's  love  has  prescribed  as  the  means  of  keeping 
alive  human  faith,  and  for  obtaining  spiritual  light 
and  strength.  An  honest  desire  to  comply  with  the 
requirements  of  our  God,  and  "  to  fulfil  all  right- 
eousness," is  all  that  is  necessary.  The  question  is 
not,  how  good  you  are,  but  I'ather  is  it,  how  good  you 
would  gladly  be?  If  you  sincerely  desire  to  be 
steadily  advancing  in  holiness  and  truth,  you  cannot 
at  the  same  time  wish  to  escape  from  any  restraining 
infiuence  of  religious  ordinances,  or  any  additional 
inducements  to  watchfulness  and  caution  which 
religious  professions  may  impose  upon  you. 

May  God  grant  it,  my  brethren,  that  those  of  us 
who  shall  this  day,  through  a  solemn  sense  of  duty, 
first  contribute  as  God  has  prospered  us  to  the  ne- 
cessities of  the  poor,  the  sick,  and  the  destitute,  and 
shall  then  assemble  around  the  altar  of  our  common 
Lord,  to  commemorate  His  death  until  His  coming 
again — may  indeed  find  ourselves  more  and  more 
animated  by  the  refreshing  infiuence  that  proceeds 
from  the  presence  of  God  !  May  we  find  ourselves 
refreshed,  and  our  strength  renewed,  to  run  with 
more  alacrity  the  race  that  is  set  before  us ;  to 
press  onward  with  fresh  earnestness  toward  the  mark 
for  the  prize  of  our  high  calling  in  Christ  Jesus ! 


THE  IMMORTALITY  OF   THE  SOUL.* 

"  We  shall  not  all  sleep,  but  we  shall  all  be  changed.'''' 

1  Car.  15th,  oUt. 

brethren,  what   a    ceaseless    circle    of 
change  is  nature ! 

There  is  nothing  in  regard  to  which  we 
■131  can  affirm  that  it  will  be  to-morrow  what 
it  is  to-day !  Every  object  that  meets  the  eye  ap- 
pears to  be  already  hastening  towards  the  assump- 
tion of  some  new  form  of  matter.  The  universe 
appears  to  be  endued  with  powers  only  to  carry  it 
on  to  other  conditions  of  being,  and  it  exhibits  every- 
where a  perpetual  and  most  wonderful  system  of 
transmigration,  decay,  and  renovation. 

The  seed  which  to-day  is  dry  and  lifeless,  is  to- 
morrow the  green  and  growing  herb,  destined  to  rise 
into  the  strength  and  beauty  of  the  forest,  or  to 
ripen  into  golden  harvest,  to  make  glad  the  heart  of 
man.  The  bird  which  is  soon  to  float  among  the 
clouds  is  now  lifeless  in  the  shell ;  and  the  insect 
that  flutters  before  us  so  gayly  in  the  sunbeam,  has 

*  This  was  the  last  sermon  delivered  by  the  Author,  but  a  few 
days  before  his  death. 


364:  The  Immortality  of  the  Soul. 

just  emerged  from  another  form  of  life  in  the  secret 
places  of  the  earth. 

Thus  it  is  with  the  creature  man  !  He  is  not 
now  what  he  soon  will  be.  At  no  two  flitting  mo- 
ments of  time  are  the  particles  of  matter  that  com- 
pose his  body  precisely  the  same ;  while  the  spirit 
that  animates  him,  in  its  absolute  essence,  is  alone 
the  image  of  Divinity  — unchangeable  amid  per- 
petual vicissitude,  and  imperishable  amid  universal 
decay.  Yet  in  its  present  connections  it  is  every- 
where marked  with  the  evidences  of  change,  with  the 
signs  of  release  from  the  mouldering  prison  of  the 
body.  Our  present  condition,  my  brethren,  is  mani- 
festly subordinate  and  ministerial  to  another  and 
far  higher  development.  What  is  now  corruptible 
in  our  relations  must  soon  be  changed  into  incorrup- 
tion  ;  this  mortal  must  soon  put  on  immortality  ! 

Surely,  my  brethren,  there  is  nothing  but  expe- 
rience could  ever  persuade  us  of  the  wonderful  revo- 
lutions that  nature  is  perpetually  exhibiting.  That 
the  seed,  which  is  now  so  entirely  without  vitality, 
should  so  quickly  exhibit  all  the  mysterious  phe- 
nomena of  vegetable  life,  is  infinitely  more  astonish- 
ing than  that  a  restless  and  aspiring  being  like  man, 
with  his  boundless  and  ever-growing  powers,  wishes, 
hopes,  and  fears,  should  be  destined  to  live  forever. 

In  the  grain  there  is  nothing  from  which  we 
might  be  led  to  conjecture  that  it  is  not  always  to 
be  what  we  now  see  it.  But  the  powers  and  wishes 
of  man  have  led  him,  in  every  age  of  his  history,  to 
argue  an  existence  after  the  death  of  the  body ;  and 


The  Immortality  of  the  Soul.  365 

this  sacred  notion  of  immortality  is  in  itself  a  strong 
presumption  that  the  soul,  although  subjected  to 
change,  can  never  be  destined  to  destruction  ! 

Our  earnest  and  anxious  wishes — shooting  far  be- 
yond the  ruin  of  the  body,  and  leading  us  to  thirst 
for  aftection,  for  remembrance,  and  for  honor,  long 
after  the  visible  form  has  mingled  with  the  dust  of 
the  dead — were  never  given  to  man  in  cruel  mockery. 
And  again :  our  universal  discontent  with  the  present 
course  of  things  is  a  part  of  our  nature,  and  has  been 
thus  implanted  in  wisdom  and  in  mercy.,  and  is 
designed  to  enable  us,  amid  the  stupifying  witcheries 
of  the  world,  to  be  continually  thirsting  for  higher 
measures  of  purity  and  perfection.  It  is  designed, 
too,  constantly  to  remind  us  that  our  present  connec- 
tions cannot  always  endure  ;  that  it  will  scarcely  be 
wise  in  us  to  iix  our  hearts  with  a  deathless  affection 
upon  objects  that  are  always  fading  and  failing  us. 

The  design,  then,  of  this  peculiar  and  striking 
provision  of  our  nature  is  seen  to  be  worthy  of  the 
Creator's  goodness. 

Can  any  other  reason  be  conceived,  why  man 
should  be  forever  thirsting  for  a  measure  of  excel- 
lence and  glory  of  which  he  ever  conceives,  but 
nowhere  realizes  ? 

If  we  had  been  destined  for  this  world  alone,  we 
should  have  been  content  with  what  the  world  affords 
us.  But  there  is  now  something  deeply  and  insepa- 
rably wrought  into  our  hearts,  which  tells  ns  that 
there  are  fairer  and  better  things  than  these ;  that 
there  are   elsewhere   grandeur   and   beauty,  happi- 


366  The  Iimnortality  of  the  Soul. 

ness  and  glory,  far  surpassing  anything  which  we 
now  behold  or  enjoy. 

There  is  something  in  human  nature  which  in- 
stinctively leads  us  to  create  a  moral  world  of  our 
own, — a  region  without  storm  or  tempest,  of  perpetual 
peace  and  endless  love,  free  from  the  perturbations 
of  warring  passions  and  all  perversions  of  justice. 
This  power  of  creating  what  we  enjoy  not  marks  us 
for  futurity. 

We  have  thus  an  idea  of  happiness  which  is  per- 
petually receding  from  our  grasp. 

Why  is  it  that  man  should  be  thus  perpetually 
driven  from  the  present  to  the  future,  which,  when 
it  conies,  beckons  him  on  to  a  future  beyond  it  ? 

In  childhood,  it  is  to  be  youth  ;  in  youth,  we  shall 
be  happy  in  manhood  ;  in  manhood,  we  hope  to  find 
it  in  the  quiet  and  repose  of  a  serene  old  age.  But 
alas!  in  youth  we  find  that  pleasure  exhausts  without 
satisfying.  In  mature  life,  power,  wealth,  and  care 
fret  and  fatigue  us.  In  old  age,  pain  and  weakness 
oppress  us,  and  our  hearts  are  made  to  bleed  under 
the  ravages  of  deatli,  until  man,  wearied  out  by  the 
long  delusion,  sees  plainly  that  if  he  would  ever 
realize  the  bright  vision  of  happiness  he  has  so  long 
pursued,  he  must  be  content  to  follow  it  over  the 
dark  gulf  of  death. 

Now,  I  contend  that  God  would  not  thus  have 
endowed  the  heart  of  man,  if  its  sacred  afiections  be 
perishable  and  mortal  !  O  no !  if  our  love,  our 
hopes,  and  our  creative  aspirings  are  to  flourish  no- 
where but  here,  then  there  is  no  such  other  incon- 


The  Immortality  of  the  Soul.  367 

sistency  in  all  the  works  of  God,  where  intention 
and  design  are  everywhere  manifest,  and  everything 
is  adapted  to  its  peculiar  use.      Surely  it  was  the 
same  OiwidsGience  that  contrived  the  creature  man 
and  fashioned  all  visible  and  outward  nature.    Surely 
it  was  the  same  God  brought  into  being  the  minutest 
INSECT  and  the  stupendous  mind.     And  must  we  not, 
then,  look  for  the   pueposes  of  Providence   every- 
where?    Bodily  organs  and   mental  qualities   have 
each  their  specific  design  and  use.     No  creature  is 
furnished  with   wings,  that   is  not  destined  to  fly. 
And  if  we  ever  witness  appendages,  the  present  use 
of  which  is  not  obvious,  we  conclude  that  the  creature 
is  destined  to  advance  to  another  and  a  higher  con- 
dition of  being ;  that  it  is  to  undergo  some  change 
that  will  justify  the  works  of  God  and  bring  every 
endowment  into  action.     Thus  the  half-living  insect, 
in  which  we  evidently  discover  the  rudiments  of 
wings ;  although  it  now  only  crawls  upon  the  earth, 
we  yet  conclude  that  it  will  not  always  be  so,  but 
that  those  wings  will  expand,  and  that  it  will  throw 
off  the  shell  in  which  it  gropes,  and  rise  into  the  more 
elevated  condition  of  an  inhabitant  of  the  air.     Thus, 
my   brethren,  experience  teaches   us   to   reason   of 
nature ;  and  thus,  too,  we  should  reason  of  the  nature 
of  man.     We  see  him  most  wonderfully  and  exqui- 
sitely constituted,  admirably  fitted  with  powers  and 
qualities  bearing  upon  his  present  destiny,  and  cal- 
culated for  the  present  scene ;  but  along  with  these 
he  has  other  instincts  and  qualities,  most  strongly 
pointing  to  another  condition  of  being.     Our  idea  of 


368  The  Immortality  of  the  Soul. 

God,  our  iingratified  notions  of  excellence,  our  sick- 
ness and  \m\:>?it\Q.n.c,Qoi\he  present,  our  ceaseless  desire 
for  change^  our  unsatiated  appetite  and  thirst  for  the 
future,  these  are  the  embryo  wings  wdiich  indicate 
the  fliglit  for  which  we  are  destined ;  these  are  the 
signs  that  mark  the  change  that  is  awaiting  us. 
These  things  belong  not  to  this  world  ;  they  are  use- 
less here,  and  God  does  nothing  uselessly.  They 
point  unerringly  to  innnortality,  and  they  are  at  the 
same  time  the  instruments  and  organs  which  enable 
us  to  detach  ourselves  from  this  world,  to  break 
through  the  affinities  that  bind  us  here,  and  to  rise 
to  far  greater  measures  of  purity,  freedom,  and  hap- 
piness. 

It  is  thus  that  nature  cherishes  the  profoundest 
and  brightest  hopes,  and  suggests  to  the  anxious 
heart    the   entrancing   probability  of  a  deathless 

EXISTENCE. 

It  was  for  Christ  to  give  assurance  to  hope  and 
fruition  to  faith.  Nature  dictates  that  it  may,  that 
it  MUST  BE  so.    Christ  revealed  precisely  how  it  shall 

BE. 

To  a  certain  extent  philosophy  conjectures  rightly  ; 
but  it  was  for  the  inspired  Apostle  of  Jesus  to  teach 
the  world  upon  the  unerring  truth  of  God,  that  al- 
though this  body,  the  present  shell  and  covering  of 
the  soul,  shall  be  thrown  aside  and  moulder  into 
dust,  yet  shall  the  spirit,  strong  in  the  undying 
image  of  Him  who  created  it,  continue  to  advance 
steadily  towards  the  boundless  source  of  light  and 
life,  and   is  destined  to  flourish  forever   amid   the 


The  LnmoHality  of  the  Soul.  369 

ransomed  and  incorniptible  spirits  who  have  been 
made  pure  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 

Now,  my  bretliren,  it  is  to  this  change  that  is  be- 
fore ns — this  throwing  off  of  what  is  mortal  and 
corruptible — that  the  Apostle  alludes  in  the  text. 
He  was  engaged  in  enforcing  the  great  and  impor- 
tant doctrine  that  the  body  was  no  more  than  the 
temporary  covering  of  the  soul,  and  that  we  are  no 
more  to  argue  the  loss  of  thought,  sensation,  and 
AFFECTION,  bccausc  all  things  seem  to  perish  in  the 
grave,  than  we  are  to  conclude  that  the  seed  is  lost 
because,  in  obedience  to  a  great  law  of  nature,  it  must 
die,  and  change  to  the  eye,  before  it  can  be  quicken- 
ed and  vastly  multiplied. 

Then  the  Apostle  goes  on  to  teach  that  all  men 
shall  not  die  ;  that  is,  that  when  the  great  and  terri- 
ble day  of  the  Lord  shall  come,  some  men  shall  be 
found  alive  upon  the  earth.  "  The  dead  in  Christ  " 
— those  who  have  been  already  called  to  pass  through 
the  purifying  process  of  dissolution — shall  first  be 
gathered  around  the  "  Son  of  Man  ;  "  and  then,  by 
the  omnipotent  fiat  of  God,  the  same  ennobling,  re- 
fining, and  elevating  change  will,  in  an  instantane- 
ous moment  of  time,  be  passed  upon  all  who  are 
yet  breathing  the  air  of  mortal  life ;  the  change, 
brethren,  from  what  is  mortal  to  immortality — pre- 
cisely the  same  change  as  is  in  others  effected  by 
death  and  the  resm*rection.  "We  shall  not  all 
sleep  "the  sleep  of  death,  "but  we  shall  all  be 
changed ;  "  changed  from  what  is  gross,  mutable,  and 
fading,  to  what  is  ethereal,  incorruptible,  and  eternal ! 


370  The  TinmoHality  of  the  Soul. 

And  here,  my  brethren,  the  question  presents  it- 
self, as  to  the  effect  the  change  wrought  in  us  at 
death  is  to  liave  over  our  present  sympathies  and 
relations. 

As  to  the  precise  period  when  the  purposes  of  God 
shall  be  answered  in  the  economy  of  the  universe, 
and  the  mighty  angel  shall  descend  from  the  skies  to 
proclaim  the  end  of  time,  it  is  not  for  mortals  to 
know.  It  is  enough  that  the  change  through  which 
we  must  pass  is  before  us  !  It  is  enough  for  ns  to 
know  that  in  a  little  span  of  time — alas !  who  can 
say  how  awfully  short  it  may  be  ! — and  although  the 
sun  may  not  be  blotted  from  the  heavens,  yet  that 
these  bodies  shall  all  be  blighted,  debased,  and  mould- 
ering under  the  touch  of  death  ! 

Where  then  shall  be  the  deathless  spirits  ?  The 
SOUL,  with  its  warm  and  gushing  tide  of  sacred  affec- 
tions, where  will  n  be  ?  How  will  it  exist  ?  Will 
the  ties  which  now  unite  us  be  utterly  dissolved  ? 
Will  memory  and  recognition  be  lost  in  death  ?  Will 
we  never  look  back  upon  the  scenes  through  which 
we  have  passed  ?  Will  we  know  not  the  spirits  with 
which  we  are  engaged  in  mutual  offices  of  love  ? 
Shall  we  no  longer  be  blessed  with  a  kindling  inter- 
est in  the  joys,  sorrows,  trials,  and  crimes  of  the  fami- 
ly still  on  this  earth,  and  in  which  our  own  chari- 
ties while  here  were  all  bound  up  ?  Shall  we  never 
be  so  present  with  them  as  to  see  and  hear  the  sighs 
which  their  heaving  bosoms  throw  out  in  prayer  for 
comfort,  for  holiness,  and  for  knowledge  ? 

Am  I  so  SOON  TO  DIE !  —and  is  this  frame — the  curi- 


The  ImmortalHy  of  the  Soul.  371 

ous  and  wonderful  work  of  God— to  be  borne  to  the 
dark  tomb,  and  to  the  appalling  ruin  which  the 
worm  will  work  ? 

And  then  will  this  heart  be  so  shut  out  from  this 
world,  that  its  burning  love  can  no  longer  spend  it- 
self upon  the  objects  of  its  present  and  its  tenderest 
thought  ? 

My  friends,  it  cannot  be  !  What  is  death?  What 
is  the  soul?  What  is  heaven  ?  I  answer,  that  death 
is  no  m.ore  than  the  release  of  the  soul  from  its  em- 
bryo restraints  in  the  prison  of  the  body.  To  destroy 
THE  BODY  is  to  refine,  to  purify,  to  elevate,  and  to 
ennoble  the  soul.  It  is  not  to  darken  or  contract  it ! 
But  what  is  the  soul  ?  It  is  the  seat  of  immortal 
power.  It  is  thought — affection — intellect — every- 
thing that  dull,  inert,  corrupting,  loathsome  matter 
is  not ! 

If  the  soul  is  to  be  improved,  exalted,  and  enlarg- 
ed in  heaven,  will  not  thought  be  expanded,  will  not 
affection  be  quickened,  will  not  intellect  be  invigora- 
ted ?  And  all  this  with  reference  to  this  theatre  of 
its  preparation  and  trial.  Of  what  use  is  this  world, 
if  its  recollection  is  to  be  blotted  out  at  death  ?  To 
suppose  it  is  to  subvert  responsibility  ;  for  how  can 
we  talk  of  retribution  for  that  of  which  we  have  no 
consciousness  ? 

But  it  will  not  be  so.  We  know  that  we  must 
account  for  the  deeds  done  in  the  body  ;  and  that  the 
soul,  in  its  last  and  highest  estate,  with  its  sacred  en- 
ergies quickened  and  expanded,  will  be  powerful 
enough  to  embrace  the  past  with  the  present ;    to 


3Y2  The  Immortality  of  the  Soul. 

look  back  witli  the  tenderest  sympathy  upon  the 
scenes  it  has  left,  even  when  smiling  amid  the  rap- 
tures of  its  far  happier  home. 

But  what  is  that  home  ?  What  is  heaven  ?  It  is 
the  abiding-place  of  Jesus,  the  Head  of  His  body, 
the  Church  !  ^.nd  is  not  Jesus  present  always  with 
the  objects  of  His  love  upon  this  earth  ?  Has  He 
not  told  us  that  He  is  thus  present  with  us  ?  Surely, 
then,  where  the  Head  is,  the  body  must  be  also. 

Nothing,  I  think,  can  be  clearer,  than  that  we  are 
to  see  and  know  the  happy  spirits  of  all  those  just 
men  who  have  been  made  perfect  by  the  blood  of 
Christ.  It  is  most  certain  that  there  is  to  be  a  gen- 
eral knowledge  and  communion  among  the  saints  in 
heaven.  The  Apostle  Paul  most  clearly  expected  to 
know  and  to  be  known  of  his  converts,  who  were 
to  be  his  "crown  of  rejoicing  at  the  coming  of  the 
Lord."  It  was  with  this  hope  that  he  labored  in- 
stantly and  incessantly,  that  he  might  "  be  able  to 
present  them  perfect  in  Christ  Jesus." 

This  cheering  and  consoling  hope  is  the  common 
property  of  all  who  strive  to  attain  to  a  triumphant 
resurrection  of  the  dead  !  The  parent  may  then  pre- 
sent the  children  of  many  generations  he  has  been 
the  instrument  of  bringing  up  in  the  nurture  and  ad- 
monition of  the  Lord.  The  pastor  shall  present  the 
flock  he  has  fed  with  the  bread  of  life,  and  guided 
through  the  difficulties  of  the  narrow  path  that  leads 
to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  "We  shall  be  all  known 
to  each  other,  and  to  all  men,  from  the  least  even 
unto  the  greatest;  and  the  recognition  shall  fill  us 


The  Immortality  of  the  Soul.  373 

with  the  fiihiess  of  joy,  of  whicli  this  world  can  af- 
ford no  conception  or  parallel. 

In  this  connection,  you  will  permit  me  to  say  tliat 
I  have  heard  with  surprise  the  doubts  of  pious  minds 
as  to  the  sympathy  of  the  faithful  in  Heaven  with 
the  struggles  of  the  faithful  on  earth.  On  that  point 
I  ask  not  for  the  explicit  teaching  of  inspiration. 
If  God  does  not  tell  me  in  His  word  that  the  clear, 
strong,  purifying  instincts  of  nature  are  wrong,  I 
rely  upon  them  as  the  impress  of  Himself,  eternally 
and  sacredly  true.  But  it  .strikes  me  that  if  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Scriptures  upon  this  point  be  not  mi- 
nutely explicit,  yet  it  is  so  fairly  a  deduction  from 
the  whole  scheme  of  Christian  doctrine  as  to  render 
further  teaching  useless.  How  is  it  possible  for  men 
to  say  that  neither  the  Scriptures  nor  the  light  of 
nature  throw  any  illumination  upon  the  question  of 
the  knowledge  possessed  by  the  spirits  of  Heaven, 
concerning  the  things  of  earth  ?  Surely,  the  Church 
is  spoken  of  by  the  sacred  writers  as  the  one  family 
OF  Chkist,  in  heaven  and  on  eakth  !  There  is  a 
communion  and  fellowship  of  all  saints  too  constant- 
ly spoken  of  to  be  reconciled  with  the  idea  that  the 
disenthralled  and  exalted  spirit  was  ignorant  of  the 
line  of  spirits  with  whom  it  is  allied.  Does  not  the 
Apostle  Paul  expressly  tell  us  that  the  hosts  of  the 
redeemed,  who  have  preceded  us  in  our  career  of 
faith,  are  now  surrounding  us  as  a  "  cloud  of  wit- 
nesses," anxious  for  the  constancy  and  steadiness 
with  which  we  are  "  to  press  onwards  towards  the 
mark  of  our  high  calling  in  Christ  Jesus?  "     We  are 


874  Tlie  Tnimortality  of  the  Soul. 

told  too,  in  the  parable  of  the  "  rich  man  and  Laza- 
rus," that  the  thoughts  of  those  who  are  excluded 
from  the  presence  of  God  may  be  enlisted  in  behalf 
of  their  earthly  brethren;  and  can  we  believe  that 
the  sufferings  and  interests  of  time  will  attract  less 
REGARD  in  the  realms  of  triumphant  goodness  than 
they  do  in  the  regions  of  woe  ?  Are  we  not  told 
that  there  is  joy  in  Heaven  over  one  sinner  that  re- 
pents on  EARTH  ?  But  it  is  said,  that  to  give  this 
knowledge  of  the  low^er  world  to  Heaven-born  spirits 
will  be  to  endue  them  with  omniscience  !  Not  so  ; 
I  only  claim  for  them  a  continued  knowledge  of  the 
scenes  through  which  God  has  called  them  to  act.  I 
only  ask  that  while  you  admit  the  elevation  and  ex- 
pansion of  the  soul  when  released  by  death  from  the 
shackles  of  the  body,  you  will  not  at  the  same  time 
say  it  is  robbed  of  its  most  precious  and  enriching 
power — that  it  is  deprived  of  memory — that  those 
joys  are  denied  to  it  which  flow  from  the  exercise  of 
the  social  affections,  pure  and  exquisite  as  we  know 
them  to  be,  and  eternal  as  we  have  thought  them, 
because  implanted  by  God,  encouraged  and  illus- 
trated by  Christ,  and  fed  and  purified  by  the  Spirit. 
But  we  have  not  yet  done  with  this  entrancing 
topic,  at  which  we  thought  only  to  glance.  It  is  ob- 
jected, that  to  bind  the  world  of  spirits  to  this  world 
of  sin  by  ties  of  affection  and  knowledge,  would  be 
to  subject  them  to  humiliation  and  pain  from  the 
sight  of  our  sufferings  and  degrading  impurity !  I 
reply,  that  this  is  the  conclusion  of  an  earthly  and 
narrow   view   of    the   condition   of    the    departed, 


The  Tmmortalitij  of  the  Soul.  375 

and  of  the  nature  of  their  spiritual  love.  While  in 
the  flesh,  the  sight  of  guilt  and  woe  is  painful,  because 
we  cannot  see  the  designs  of  God,  and  because  it  is 
associated  with  our  own  frailty  and  liability  to  suf- 
fering. It  is  wisely  so  ordered,  to  quicken  our  sense 
of  accountability,  to  stimulate  us  to  virtuous  effort, 
and  to  a  more  resolute  self-government.  But  the 
Church  of  the  first-born  in  Heaven  fear  no  sin  and 
think  not  of  sorrow.  The  excitement  of  virtuous 
sympathy  is  not  suffering.  To  participate  in  the 
intense  love  with  which  Christ  is  bound  to  our  race 
— to  penetrate  the  design  of  all  the  discipline  to 
which  God  subjects  His  creatures — to  see  excellence 
and  joy  everywhere  springing  from  apparent  evil — 
to  see  goodness  perpetually  developed — to  become 
themselves  ministering  agents  in  the  vast  and  eter- 
nal schemes  of  beneficence — Oh !  this  is  neither  hu- 
miliation nor  woe ! 

I  know,  my  brethren,  that  to  many  minds  of  gross 
and  material  texture,  immersed  in  the  mists  of  time 
and  sense,  this  communion  and  interest  of  unearthly 
spirits  with  the  struggles  and  aspirations  of  liv- 
ing men  may  seem  no  more  than  the  conceit  of  an 
enthusiastic  fancy.  I  can  only  say  I  can  conceive 
of  no  delights  yielded  by  the  treasures  of  time — I 
know  of  no  satiating  joys  of  sense  half  so  real,  half 
so  enduring,  as  I  find  in  the  persuasion  that  the 
ties  are  eternal  which  bind  together  pure  spirits  in 
the  career  of  immortal  love — the  career  of  immor- 
tality which  we  begin  on  this  earth. 

My  brethren,  I  most  firmly  believe  that  it  is  an 


876  The  Iinmortality  of  the  Soul. 

intercliange  of  sympathy  and  interest  which  suffers 
no  interruption  ;  and  I  am  sure  that  it  is  of  the  very 
last  importance  to  human  happiness  and  virtue  to 
cherish  that  persuasion  !  For  what  truths  can  philo- 
sophy give  us,  half  so  affecting  ?  What  themes 
can  poetry  furnish,  half  so  thrilling?  What  other 
sanctions  can  religion  throw  around  us,  half  so  likely 
to  touch  the  sensibility  and  to  feed  the  vigilance  of 
these  cold,  earthly,  and  sensual  hearts,  as  the  solemn, 
imposing,  and  ever-present  conviction  that  all  our 
doings  are  hourly  read,  and  all  our  sacred  aspirations 
echoed  back,  by  the  departed  spirits  of  our  love? 
Glorious,  entrancing,  and  controlling  thought ! 

My  brethren,  let  us  cherish  these  sacred  reflections. 
But  let  us  beware  lest  we  consent  to  any  presump- 
tuous perversions  of  this  doctrine  of  the  communion 
of  spirits.  However  much  may  he  Tcnown  hy  the 
fam^ily  of  Jesus  in  Heaven,  we,  so  long  as  we  are 
covered  hy  this  veil  of  flesh,  can  neither  see  nor 
hnow.  Let  us,  then,  cling  with  closer  fondness  to  the 
hopes  which  Jesus  inspires.  Let  us  not  repine  that 
we  are  to  fall  into  the  dust.  "  We  must  all  be 
changed,"  but  the  faith  of  Christ  will  "  change  this 
vile  body  like  unto  His  own  glorious  body."  And 
our  dear  and  virtuous  friends  will  be  changed  and 
clothed  anew  as  we  are  with  spiritual  bodies ! 
Death  will  then  have  no  more  dominion  over  us, 
but,  bright  as  the  angels,  and  exulting  with  them  in 
their  triumphant  songs  of  joy,  we  shall  run  our  end- 
less race  of  glory ! 


